Patent ID: 8807119

Claim:
A system for managing ignition of a light-duty internal combustion engine during starting, the system comprising: a charge winding that induces charge for an ignition pulse, a first terminal of the charge winding is arranged to generate a first signal indicating a speed of the engine and a second terminal of the charge winding is arranged to generate a second signal indicating a piston position of the engine; an ignition discharge capacitor coupled to the charge winding, the ignition discharge capacitor stores the induced charge from the charge winding; a switch coupled to the ignition discharge capacitor, the switch discharges the stored charge from the ignition discharge capacitor; and a processing device coupled to the switch, the processing device receives the first signal and the second signal and controls the state of the switch, wherein the processing device is configured to activate the switch during a starting sequence when a comparison of the received first signal and second signal indicates that a piston is positioned in the region of top dead center (TDC).