Patent ID: 6917874

Claim:
An apparatus for controlling an internal combustion engine, wherein the engine includes an intake valve, an exhaust valve, and a variable valve actuation mechanism, wherein the variable valve actuation mechanism actuates at least one of the valves to change a state of valve overlap, in which the valves are both opened, wherein an internal EGR amount changes according to a state of the variable valve actuation mechanism, wherein the internal EGR amount is the amount of combusted gas that exists in a cylinder of the engine when air-fuel mixture is combusted in the cylinder, the apparatus comprising: a computer, wherein, according to changes in the internal EGR amount accompanying actuation of the variable valve actuation mechanism, the computer corrects an engine control amount that is influenced by changes in the internal EGR amount, wherein the computer computes a correction amount used in the correction of the engine control amount based on the ratio of an actual internal EGR amount to a target internal EGR amount, the ratio of an actual valve overlap area to a target valve overlap area, or the ratio of a square number of an actual valve overlap amount to a square number of a target valve overlap amount.