Patent ID: 7568359

Claim:
A refrigerator having a refrigerator cabinet, the refrigerator comprising: a fresh food compartment disposed within the cabinet; a door attached to the cabinet for providing access to the fresh food compartment; a freezer compartment disposed within the cabinet; an ice compartment with an ice maker disposed within the cabinet; a heater for selectively providing heat to thereby increase overall energy efficiency of the refrigerator; an electronic control system associated with the refrigerator and adapted to monitor and control temperature in the fresh food compartment, the freezer compartment and the ice compartment; an ice compartment temperature sensor associated with the ice compartment and electrically connected to the electronic control system; a fresh food compartment temperature sensor associated with the fresh food compartment and electrically connected to the electronic control system; a freezer compartment temperature sensor associated with the freezer compartment and electrically connected to the electronic control system; and wherein the electronic control system is further adapted to synchronize cooling of the ice compartment, fresh food compartment, and freezer compartment to thereby provide consistent power consumption and eliminate non-uniform temperature patterns.