Patent ID: 7004141

Claim:
An engine control system in a vehicle comprising: a variable displacement internal combustion engine; actuators operatively coupled to valves of said variable displacement internal combustion engine; an intake manifold coupled to said variable displacement internal combustion engine; a throttle coupled to said intake manifold; a controller for controlling said throttle and said variable displacement internal combustion engine; an accelerator pedal having an accelerator pedal position sensor electronically coupled to said controller; wherein said actuators close at least one set of valves to a cylinder when said cylinder is deactivated to substantially prevent air flow through said cylinder; and wherein said controller controls the position of said throttle based upon at least a reference torque model to maintain a substantially consistent accelerator pedal position to generate substantially the same torque for different displacements of the variable displacement internal combustion engine, whereby changes in the displacement of the variable displacement internal combustion engine are transparent to the operation of said accelerator pedal.