Patent ID: 8037867

Claim:
A method for controlling an internal combustion engine, comprising: determining a top dead centre of a piston a combustion chamber; for an actual operating point of the internal combustion engine, determining a reference ignition advance angle at which the efficiency of the internal combustion engine is at a maximum, regardless of whether knocking occurs at the reference ignition advance angle, determining an actual ignition advance angle at which the internal combustion engine is to be operated at the actual operating point, detecting signal values from a sensor for detecting knocking in the combustion chamber, determining a position of a knock evaluating interval as a function of both (a) the difference between the reference ignition advance angle and the actual ignition advance angle, and (b) the top dead centre of the piston in the combustion chamber, such that the greater the difference between the reference ignition advance angle and the actual ignition advance angle, the further the position of a knock evaluating interval is adjusted in a retard direction relative to the top dead centre of the piston, and detecting knocking, taking into account only the signal values detected within the determined evaluating interval.