Patent ID: 7044104

Claim:
A method for operating an internal combustion engine with fuel injection having a cylinder, a cylinder head with an ignition source, a piston and a combustion chamber that is delimited between the cylinder head and the piston, said method comprising the steps: supplying air and a first fuel quantity to the combustion chamber, in such a manner that a homogeneous lean base mixture is formed in the combustion chamber, introducing a second fuel quantity into the combustion chamber in the area of a top dead center position of the piston, in such a manner that an ignitable mixture cloud is formed within the homogenous lean base mixture in the region of the ignition source, and igniting the ignitable mixture cloud formed by the second fuel quantity in the region of the ignition source by means of the ignition source in an area between 80° CA before the ignition top dead center and 10° CA after the ignition top dead center position of the piston, the lean homogenous base mixture which is present in the combustion chamber subsequently being subjected to compression ignition by the combustion of the mixture cloud formed by the combustion of the second fuel quantity.