Patent ID: 7503872

Claim:
A control apparatus for a vehicular drive system including: (i) a first transmission portion operable as an electrically controlled continuously variable transmission and having (i-1) a differential mechanism operable to distribute an output of an engine to a first electric motor and a power transmitting member, and (i-2) a second electric motor operable to transmit power to a drive wheel; and (ii) a second transmission portion disposed in a power transmitting path between the engine and the drive wheel to function as an automatic transmission, said control apparatus comprising: a differential-state limiting device provided in the differential mechanism, and operable to limit a differential function of the differential mechanism, for limiting an operation of the first transmission portion as the electrically controlled continuously variable transmission; and an electric-motor controller operable to reduce a rotational speed of the engine by using at least one of the first electric motor and the second electric motor, upon a shift-up action of the second transmission portion while the first transmission portion is held in a non-continuously-variable shifting state in which the first transmission portion can not be operated as the electrically controlled continuously variable transmission, as a result of the limitation imposed by said differential-state limiting device on the operation of the first transmission portion as the electrically controlled continuously variable transmission.