Abstract: Methods and apparatus are provided for ensuring that a throttle increase accompanying a change in the number of active cylinders of an internal combustion engine will not occur too long with more than a selected fraction of all the cylinders activated, so as to not startle a driver. The apparatus comprises an electronic controller that generates the throttle increase if less than all the cylinders are requested to be activated. A determination is made as to whether the number of cylinders being fueled is equal to or less than the selected fraction. A timer is started if the number of cylinders being fueled is greater than the selected fraction. The throttle increase is turned off if the amount of time measured by the timer exceeds a threshold before the number of cylinders being fueled becomes either less than or equal to the selected fraction.

Abstract: method and apparatus for controlling throttle plate position by compensating for characteristics of return springs acting on the throttle plate and static friction against movement of the throttle plate. The spring characteristic compensation includes static spring force and non-linear spring action force compensation. The method also learns the spring force characteristics to compensate for differences in the return springs.