CONTROLLER AND CONTROL METHOD FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE

When an amount of PM trapped by a GPF is large and a request for regeneration is made, a CPU determines whether an execution condition for executing a temperature increasing process is satisfied. At a point in time t at which the execution condition is satisfied, the CPU executes a scavenging process to assign to a condition satisfaction flag Ftr, cause the air-fuel ratio of air-fuel mixture in cylinders # and # to be the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, and stop a combustion operation in a cylinder # After a point in time t which is after a combustion cycle, the CPU executes a temperature increasing process. The temperature increasing process causes the air-fuel ratio of the air-fuel mixture in the cylinders # and # to be richer than the stoichiometric air-fuel ratio, and stops the combustion operation in the cylinder #