Patent Document ID: 9903283
Application ID: 15245652
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for operating an internal combustion engine, the method comprising: providing a vehicle having an internal combustion gasoline engine including multiple cylinders and wherein the engine is capable of running on at least one of a plurality of firing fractions; providing a vacuum offset (Offset vac ) to adjust airflow capacity for each of the plurality of firing fractions; determining a torque capacity of each of the plurality of firing fractions and a plurality of available firing fractions that provides at least enough torque capacity to accommodate a current torque requested (T req ), and wherein determining the torque capacity of each of the plurality of firing fractions comprises: determining a net torque capacity (T net ) of the engine; determining a maximum brake torque (T FF ) for each firing fraction; and determining a minimum firing fraction that produces at least enough brake torque T FF to accommodate the current torque request T req ; determining a plurality of viable firing fractions of the plurality of available firing fractions; and determining and implementing an optimal firing fraction of the viable firing fractions if the optimal firing fraction provides enough fuel economy benefit over a current firing fraction.