A method for operating an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle, where the internal combustion engine includes a combustion chamber and a prechamber spark plug which is assigned to the combustion chamber and which has a prechamber which is fluidically connected to the combustion chamber via a plurality of openings. The method includes operating the internal combustion engine in a catalytic converter heating operation in which an ignition time, at which an ignition spark for igniting a fuel-air mixture in the combustion chamber is generated in the prechamber within a particular operating cycle of the internal combustion engine, is shifted later compared to a normal operation. An injection time, at which a last direct fuel injection into the combustion chamber is carried out within the particular operating cycle, is a same in the catalytic converter heating operation and in the normal operation.

A method for operating an internal combustion engine of a motor vehicle, where the internal combustion engine includes a combustion chamber and a prechamber spark plug which is assigned to the combustion chamber and which has a prechamber which is fluidically connected to the combustion chamber via a plurality of openings. The method includes operating the internal combustion engine in a catalytic converter heating operation in which an ignition time, at which an ignition spark for igniting a fuel-air mixture in the combustion chamber is generated in the prechamber within a particular operating cycle of the internal combustion engine, is shifted later compared to a normal operation. An injection time, at which a last direct fuel injection into the combustion chamber is carried out within the particular operating cycle, is a same in the catalytic converter heating operation and in the normal operation.

Described is a method for controlling an internal combustion engine, wherein an ignition control device is prompted by control signals of an engine control device to activate an ignition device by means of which an ignition of a fuel-air mixture in a cylinder of the internal combustion engine is affected. It is provided according to this disclosure, that the engine control device communicates a target ignition angle or information about an operating condition of the internal combustion engine to the ignition control device, and the ignition control device sets an operating parameter of the ignition device in dependence on the target ignition angle or the information about the operating condition of the internal combustion engine.

A method for controlling an internal combustion engine. Target ignition times for the individual cylinders are given by an engine control device through trigger signals transmitted to the ignition control device. After receiving a trigger signal, the ignition control device activates the ignition device associated with this trigger signal to effect ignition in the respective cylinder. The ignition control device stores a firing order in which an ignition is to be cyclically effected in the individual cylinders, and it is checked whether trigger signals for all cylinders are received in the stored firing order, and if not, a substitutional ignition time is calculated for the at least one cylinder for which no trigger signal has been received, from at least two trigger signals for the cylinders or one of the remaining cylinders, and the respective ignition device or ignition devices are activated according to the calculated substitutional ignition time.

A controller device of an engine ignition circuit includes: a driver circuit that controls a voltage of a control terminal of a first switching element for controlling an ignition timing of an ignition circuit of an engine, based on a timing signal supplied from an engine control unit for controlling the engine; and an auxiliary driver circuit that supplies the timing signal to the control terminal of the first switching element when a battery voltage supplied to the driver circuit becomes equal to or lower than a threshold value.