US Patent 10029668 Control apparatus for internal combustion engine

An apparatus for controlling an internal combustion engine in a hybrid vehicle is provided with: a specifying device configured to specify the operation aspect at a previous stop time point of the internal combustion engine in an EV running period; a first start controlling device configured to start the internal combustion engine in the cylinder deactivation operation at a time point at which a required output corresponding value of the hybrid vehicle is a first reference value, if the specified operation aspect is the cylinder deactivation operation; and a second start controlling device configured to start the internal combustion engine in the full cylinder operation at a time point at which the required output corresponding value is a second reference value, which is greater than the first reference value, if the specified operation aspect is the full cylinder operation.