Patent ID: 7222594

Claim:
A control apparatus for an internal combustion engine equipped with a variable valve lifting device which switches lift characteristics of an intake valve and/or an exhaust valve of an internal combustion engine from one of first and second control modes differentiated in said lift characteristics to the other of said control modes, when an operating condition of the internal combustion engine is placed at a first switching level at which a difference in output torque of said internal combustion engine between the first and second control modes is expected to be minimized, said control apparatus comprising: a torque calculating unit which calculates an output torque of said internal combustion engine for the first or second control mode; a torque learning unit which learns a torque calculated by said torque calculating unit immediately before switching from the first control mode to the second control mode at the first switching level of the operating condition as a pre-switching torque, and also learning a torque calculated by said torque calculating unit immediately after switching from the first control mode to the second control mode at the first level of the operating condition as a post-switching torque; and an operating condition correcting unit which corrects the first switching level of the operating condition to a second switching level based on the pre-switching torque and the post-switching torque of said torque learning unit so as to reduce a difference in output torque of said internal combustion engine at the second switching level of the operating condition between the first and second control modes as compared with the difference at the first switching level, said variable valve lifting device switching the first and second modes at the second switching level of the operating condition.