Patent ID: 7063069

Claim:
A controller for an internal combustion engine, wherein the internal combustion engine includes a combustion chamber, an in-cylinder injector for directly injecting fuel into the combustion chamber, an air-intake passage injector for injecting fuel to a position upstream from the combustion chamber, a low-pressure pump for pumping fuel from a, fuel tank and discharging low-pressure fuel, a low-pressure pipe for supplying the low-pressure fuel to the air-intake passage injector, a high-pressure pump for pressurizing the low-pressure fuel and discharging high-pressure fuel, and a high-pressure pipe for supplying the high-pressure fuel to the in-cylinder injector, the internal combustion engine having a first driving mode, in which fuel is injected only from the air-intake passage injector, and a second driving mode, in which fuel is injected from the in-cylinder injector, the controller comprising: a prediction means for predicting whether the internal combustion engine will shift from the first driving mode to the second driving mode based on a driving state of the internal combustion engine; and a pump control means for controlling fuel pressure in the high-pressure pipe, the pump control means operating the high-pressure pump at a first output when the prediction means predicts that the internal combustion engine is likely to shift from the first driving mode to the second driving mode, and the pump control means de-actuating the high-pressure pump or operating the high-pressure pump at a second output lower than the first output when the prediction means predicts that the internal combustion engine is not likely to shift from the first driving mode to the second driving mode.