The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 30, 2003
Filed:
Sep. 12, 2001
Atsushi Tabata, Okazaki, JP;
Shuji Nagano, Toyota, JP;
Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Toyota, JP;
Abstract
A control apparatus for a variable-cylinder engine of a vehicle, including a regenerative-braking-state detecting device operable to detect a regenerative braking state of the vehicle, and a decompression-state setting device arranged to place selected ones of non-operating cylinders of the variable-cylinder engine in a decompression state, on the basis of the regenerative braking state of vehicle detected by the regenerative-braking-state detecting device, so that only a required minimum number of the non-operating cylinders of the variable-cylinder engine is/are placed in the decompression state, depending upon the detected regenerative braking state of the vehicle, making it possible to not only improve fuel economy of the vehicle but also assure sufficient engine braking of the vehicle.