Patent attributes
In a method of performing active control between a lean operation state and a rich operation state on a vehicle engine including a three way catalyst in an exhaust path, on a downstream side with respect to the three way catalyst in the exhaust path, a limited current type NOx sensor having NH3 interference and also capable of detecting a change in an oxygen concentration on the downstream side is disposed, and an operation state of the vehicle engine is switched between a lean operation state and a rich operation state at a timing when a detection of a change in an oxygen concentration in an exhaust air flowing out from the three way catalyst or a detection of NOx or NH3 is performed first by the NOx sensor.