Method of and apparatus for continuously and variably controlling valve timing of internal engine

An apparatus for controlling valve timing of an internal combustion engine, comprising:

• a valve timing mechanism for continuously and variably controlling an opening and closing timing of at least one of intake and exhaust valves of the engine;
• a control map for determining a displacement from a reference timing as a target valve timing according to an engine load, in which map a valve overlapping period in which both an intake and an exhaust valve are open is set smaller in a high load range than in a medium load range, the valve overlapping period being the smallest for the reference timing;
• load detection means for detecting an engine load;
• pressure detection means for detecting an atmospheric pressure;
• displacement set means for setting the displacement by referring to the map according to the detected engine load;
• and
• displacement correction means for correcting the set displacement such that the lower the detected atmospheric pressure the more the set displacement is reduced.