Refrigerator with sequential interior lighting
A refrigerator includes sequential interior lighting to dynamically vary the light level in a compartment of the refrigerator. At least one light of a plurality of lights in the compartment may be activated after activation of at least one other light of the plurality of lights upon opening of a door such that the brightness level in the compartment progressively increases after opening of the door, thereby enabling a user's eyes to better acclimate to the compartment illumination.
1 . A refrigerator, comprising:
a cabinet including a food storage compartment defined therein;
a door coupled to the cabinet to provide external access to the food storage compartment, the door movable between closed and open positions;
a plurality of lights disposed within the food storage compartment; and
a controller coupled to the plurality of lights, the controller configured to detect opening of the door, and the controller further configured to, in response to detecting opening of the door, illuminate the food storage compartment by sequentially activating first and second lights of the plurality of lights such that the first light is activated prior to activation of the second light;
wherein the plurality of lights includes a first subset of lights extending generally from a midline of the food storage compartment to and along a first side wall of the food storage compartment and a second subset of lights extending generally from the midline to and along a second side wall of the food storage compartment, and the controller is configured to illuminate the food storage compartment by sequentially activating lights from each of the first and second subset of lights starting proximate the midline to generate a wraparound animation.
2 . The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to illuminate the food storage compartment by sequentially activating a third light of the plurality of lights such that the third light is activated after activation of each of the first and second lights.
3 . The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the controller is configured to sequentially activate the first and second lights of the plurality of lights by activating the first light, waiting a predetermined duration after activating the first light, and activating the second light after waiting the predetermined duration.
4 . The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of lights includes a one-dimensional array of three or more lights, and the controller is configured to illuminate the food storage compartment by sequentially activating the three or more lights along a length of the one-dimensional array.
5 . The refrigerator of claim 4 , wherein the one-dimensional array is linear.
6 . The refrigerator of claim 4 , wherein at least a portion of the one-dimensional array is curved.
7 . The refrigerator of claim 4 , wherein at least a portion of the one-dimensional array is arranged in a generally back to front direction within the food storage compartment, and the controller is configured to illuminate the food storage compartment by sequentially activating the at least a portion of the one-dimensional array in a generally back to front or front to back direction to generate a back to front or front to back animation.
8 . The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the first light is among a first subset of the plurality of lights and the second light is among a second subset of the plurality of lights, each of the first and second subsets of the plurality of lights includes more than one light, and the controller is configured to concurrently activate the first subset of lights when activating the first light and concurrently activate the second subset of lights when activating the second light.
9 . The refrigerator of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of lights further includes a third subset including more than one light, and the controller is configured to concurrently activate the first third subset of lights sequentially after activating the second subset of lights.
10 . The refrigerator of claim 1 , further comprising a door position sensor, and the controller is configured to detect opening of the door using the door position sensor.
11 . The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the plurality of lights has a variable intensity, and the controller is further configured to vary the intensity of the at least one of the plurality of lights when illuminating the food storage compartment.
12 . The refrigerator of claim 1 , further comprising an ambient light sensor, wherein the controller is configured to sequentially activate first and second lights of the plurality of lights further based on an ambient light level sensed by the ambient light sensor.
13 . The refrigerator of claim 12 , wherein the controller is configured to sequentially activate the first and second lights in response to the ambient light level meeting a low light criterion, and to activate the first and second lights concurrently in response to the ambient light level not meeting the low light criterion.
14 . The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein at least a subset of the plurality of lights is disposed on a rear wall, a side wall, a top wall or a bottom wall of the food storage compartment.
15 . The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein at least a subset of the plurality of lights is disposed on a component disposed in the food storage compartment, wherein the component is a shelf, a drawer, a filter, or a control panel.
16 . The refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein at least a subset of the plurality of lights is disposed on an interior surface of the door.
17 . The refrigerator of claim 1 , further comprising a drawer disposed in the food storage compartment, wherein at least a subset of the plurality of lights is positioned to illuminate an interior of the drawer, and wherein the controller is further configured to detect opening of the drawer, and in response to detecting opening of the drawer, illuminate the interior of the drawer using the subset of the plurality of lights.
18 . A refrigerator, comprising:
a cabinet including a food storage compartment defined therein;
a door coupled to the cabinet to provide external access to the food storage compartment, the door movable between closed and open positions;
a door position sensor;
a plurality of lights disposed within the food storage compartment; and
a controller coupled to the plurality of lights, the controller configured to detect opening of the door using the door position sensor, and the controller further configured to, in response to detecting opening of the door, illuminate the food storage compartment by sequentially activating first and second lights of the plurality of lights such that the first light is activated prior to activation of the second light;
wherein the door position sensor is configured to detect a plurality of open positions of the door having different rotational differences from the closed position, and the controller is configured to illuminate the food storage compartment by increasing a number of activated lights of the plurality of lights as a current position of the door moves away from the closed position.
19 . The refrigerator of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of lights includes a first subset of lights extending generally from a midline of the food storage compartment to and along a first side wall of the food storage compartment and a second subset of lights extending generally from the midline to and along a second side wall of the food storage compartment, and the controller is configured to illuminate the food storage compartment by sequentially activating lights from each of the first and second subset of lights starting proximate the midline to generate a wraparound animation.
20 . A method comprising, with a controller of a refrigerator of a type including a cabinet having a food storage compartment defined therein and a door coupled to the cabinet and movable between closed and open positions to provide external access to the food storage compartment:
detecting opening of the door; and
in response to detecting opening of the door, illuminating the food storage compartment by sequentially activating first and second lights of a plurality of lights disposed in the food storage compartment such that the first light is activated prior to activation of the second light;
wherein the plurality of lights includes a first subset of lights extending generally from a midline of the food storage compartment to and along a first side wall of the food storage compartment and a second subset of lights extending generally from the midline to and along a second side wall of the food storage compartment, and wherein the food storage compartment includes sequentially activating lights from each of the first and second subset of lights starting proximate the midline to generate a wraparound animation.