Patent ID: 8352151

Claim:
An electric current supply control apparatus for a glow plug, the electric current supply control apparatus being connected to an external apparatus which controls a circulation valve provided in a circulating passage connecting an intake passage and an exhaust passage of an engine so as to adjust an amount of exhaust gas circulated to the intake side, the circulated exhaust gas being a portion of exhaust gas discharged from the engine, and the electric current supply control apparatus being adapted to control supply of electric current to a heat generation resistor of the glow plug mounted to the engine, said apparatus comprising: transition determination means, operable after startup of the engine, for determining whether or not a load acting on the engine is in a transition state in which the load is increasing based on information obtained from the external apparatus and regarding an operation state of the engine; electric current supply means for supplying electric current to the heat generation resistor when the load acting on the engine is determined to be in the transition state; and output means for outputting to the external apparatus, synchronously with the supply of electric current to the heat generation resistor, a report signal which reports that the circulating amount of the exhaust gas can be increased.