Patent ID: 8027779

Claim:
A method of operating an internal combustion engine, with which a lambda controller is associated, the lambda controller being designed to generate a controller control signal in the form of a correction contribution as a function of an actual value of an air-fuel ratio in a combustion chamber and upon a predefined setpoint value of the air-fuel ratio in the combustion chamber, and which comprises an intake tract and an exhaust gas tract, which as a function of a switching position of at least one gas inlet valve and at least one gas outlet valve respectively communicate with the combustion chamber of a cylinder, and which comprises one injection valve per cylinder for metering a fuel mass into the combustion chamber of the corresponding cylinder, as a function of a control signal that is determined as a function of the correction contribution, the method comprising the steps of: as a function of at least one operating variable, determining an operating state of the internal combustion engine, which comprises a cold operating state and a warm operating state of the internal combustion engine, and in the active state of the lambda controller, in the cold operating state and given the existence of a predefined first condition determining a current cold adaptation value as a function of at least one component of the controller control signal, a valid cold adaptation value and a valid warm adaptation value, assigning the current cold adaptation value to the valid cold adaptation value, in the warm operating state and given the existence of a predefined second condition determining a current warm adaptation value as a function of at least the component of the controller control signal and the valid warm adaptation value, adapting the valid cold adaptation value given the existence of a predefined third condition as a function of a difference between the valid warm adaptation value and the current warm adaptation value, assigning the current warm adaptation value to the valid warm adaptation value, and in the cold operating state, determining the control signal as a function of the valid cold adaptation value and the valid warm adaptation value and in the warm operating state, determining the control signal as a function of the valid warm adaptation value.