Patent 7890242 was granted and assigned to Toyota on February, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
Immediately after startup of the engine, secondary air is supplied by an air pump into each exhaust branch passage via a secondary-air supply passage. A pressure sensor is disposed in the secondary-air supply passage. An output voltage of the pressure sensor decreases as the battery voltage decreases. When the battery voltage is lower than a permissible voltage, the output value of the pressure sensor is inhibited from being used as an output value representing the pressure. Thus, atmospheric pressure can be accurately detected.