Internal combustion engine knock control apparatus and method

When a fuel injection period and a knock determination period switch from a state in which they do not overlap to a state in which they do overlap, operational noise from a fuel injector rides on an output signal from a knock sensor during the knock determination period. By preventing execution of knock control that changes the ignition timing based on determination results from after the switch until a predetermined period of time has passed, it is possible to preferably avoid a case in which the ignition timing is improperly changed based on an erroneous determination in the knock determination due to an effect from operational noise from the fuel injector.