Patent ID: 8122730

Claim:
A method for managing the operating conditions of a refrigerator unit, comprising the steps of: determining a sensor temperature of the refrigerator unit, comprising: obtaining at least one single-sensor temperature reading; determining whether said at least one single-sensor temperature reading is valid; accumulating a known number of said valid single-sensor temperature readings; obtaining at least one additional single-sensor temperature reading when one of said at least one single-sensor temperature readings is determined to be invalid; accumulating a count of said determined invalid single-sensor temperature readings; and determining said sensor temperature as invalid when said accumulated count of said determined invalid single-sensor temperature readings exceeds a predetermined value; determining which of a plurality of disjoint temperature regions said sensor temperature lies within; and setting an operating condition of each of a plurality of components of the refrigerator unit based on conditions associated with said determined temperature region to a default value when said sensor temperature is determined to be invalid.