Internal combustion engine control apparatus and internal combustion engine control method

An internal combustion engine control apparatus for a hybrid vehicle which runs on power from an electric motor which is driven by at least either of electric power generated in a generator by power of an internal combustion engine and electric power supplied from a battery, comprising:

• a required power deriving portion for deriving a required power which is a power of the electric motor outputted in accordance with an accelerator pedal operation in the hybrid vehicle;
• an operation mode determination portion for determining an operation mode of the internal combustion engine based on a magnitude of a required power derived from the required power deriving portion;
• an offset value deriving portion for deriving, when an operation mode determined by the operation mode determination portion is a constant point operation mode in which the internal combustion engine is operated at a constant revolution speed, an offset value for correcting an operation point of the internal combustion engine operated in the constant point operation mode, from a degree of requirement for acceleration or deceleration by a driver of the hybrid vehicle;
• an internal combustion engine operation point deriving portion for deriving, based on the required power, a target operation point for the internal combustion engine operated in the constant point operation mode;
• and
• an internal combustion engine operation control portion for controlling the internal combustion engine to operate at an operation point which is obtained by correcting the target operation point by the offset value.