Control device for internal combustion engine

A control device for an internal combustion engine, the control device comprising an electronic control unit configured to:

• execute temperature rise processing in which a temperature of a catalyst cleaning exhaust gas from a plurality of cylinders of the internal combustion engine is raised by an air-fuel ratio of at least one of the cylinders being controlled to a rich air-fuel ratio lower than a stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, an air-fuel ratio of each of the other cylinders being controlled to a lean air-fuel ratio higher than the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, and a fuel being ignited;
• determine whether or not the execution of the temperature rise processing is ongoing;
• determine whether or not a fuel cut request for stopping fuel injection of the internal combustion engine is present during the execution of the temperature rise processing;
• determine whether or not a parameter correlating with the temperature of the catalyst indicates that the temperature of the catalyst is equal to or higher than a threshold;
• and
• allow the temperature rise processing to continue, by allowing the fuel injection to continue while prohibiting the ignition of the fuel, when the fuel cut request is present and the temperature of the catalyst is equal to or higher than the threshold during the execution of the temperature rise processing.