Patent 7121260 was granted and assigned to Toyota on October, 2006 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
An ignition timing control apparatus for an engine includes a controller that sets an ignition timing considering a change of a temperature or a pressure in a combustion chamber at a time when an opening/closing characteristic of an intake valve is changed, the opening/closing characteristic including a valve opening timing and a valve closing timing at least one of which is changed by a variable valve mechanism for the engine.