Light system for a vending machine

1. A system for providing lighting for a vending machine, the system comprising:

a light source configured in and extending along a first inner surface of a door of the vending machine, the light source configured to direct a first portion of light along a planar surface of the door towards a first reflective material and a second portion of light towards an interior of the vending machine; and

the first reflective material extending along a second inner surface of the vending machine, the first reflective material configured to reflect the first portion of light emitted from the light source towards the interior of the vending machine such that the interior of the vending machine is illuminated from at least two directions.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the light source further comprises a lens operable to collimate the first portion of light towards the first reflective material.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein said light source is disposed at an angle between two and three degrees from a layer created between said first inner surface and said second inner surface.

4. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a second reflective material extending along a third inner surface of the vending machine, the second reflective material operable to reflect a third portion light emitted from the light source towards the interior of said vending machine.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein said light source is a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs).

6. The system of claim 5 , further comprising:

a controller for regulating operation of said lighting source.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein said controller further comprises:

a first processor;

a computer readable medium electronically coupled to said first processor; and

a plurality of instructions wherein a least a portion of said plurality of instructions are storable in said computer readable medium, and further wherein said plurality of instructions are configured to cause said processor to perform the steps of:

determining the occurrence of at least one of a specified time of day, a specified day of the week and a predefined period of inactivity; and

dimming said light source in response to the determining of the occurrence of at least one of the time of day, the day of the week and the predefined period of inactivity.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein dimming said light source comprises at least one of turning off at least one of said plurality of LEDs and adjusting a power supplied to said light source.

9. A method for providing lighting for a vending machine, the method comprising:

emitting a light from the light source extending along a first inner surface of a door of the vending machine, the light source configured to direct a first portion of light along a planar surface of the door of the vending machine towards a first reflective material and a second portion of light towards an interior of the vending machine;

reflecting the first portion of light towards an interior of the vending machine by the first reflective material extending along a second inner surface of the door of the vending machine, wherein the reflected light combines with the emitted light to illuminate an interior of the vending machine from at least two directions;

determining the occurrence of at least one of a specified time of day, a specified day of the week and a predefined period of inactivity; and

dimming the light source in response to the determining of the occurrence of at least one of the time of day, the day of the week and the predefined period of inactivity.

10. The method of claim 9 , the method further comprising:

refracting the light, with a lens; and

collimating the light towards the reflective material.

11. The method of claim 9 , the method further comprising:

collimating the light along a trajectory at an angle between two and three degrees from a layer created between the first inner surface and the second inner surface.

12. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

reflecting the light towards an interior of the vending machine by a second reflective material extending along a third inner surface of the door of the vending machine.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the light source is a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs).

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:

regulating an operation of the lighting source by a controller.

15. The method of claim 9 , wherein dimming the light source comprises at least one of turning off at least one of the plurality of LEDs and adjusting a power supplied to the light source.

16. A vending machine comprising:

a housing structure;

a door pivotally coupled to the housing structure;

a light source configured in and extending along a first inner surface of the door, the light source configured to direct a first portion of light along a planar surface of the door towards a first reflective material and a second portion of light towards an interior of the housing structure; and

a reflective material extending along a second inner surface of the door, wherein the reflective material is configured to reflect the first portion of light towards the interior of the housing structure such that the second portion of light and the first portion of light reflected from the reflective material combine to illuminate the interior of the housing from at least two directions.

17. The vending machine of claim 16 , wherein said light source is a number of light emitting diodes.

18. The vending machine of claim 17 further comprising a controller adapted to regulate operation of said lighting source.

19. The vending machine of claim 18 , wherein said controller further comprises:

a first processor;

a computer readable medium electronically coupled to said first processor; and

a plurality of instructions wherein a least a portion of said plurality of instructions are storable in said computer readable medium, and further wherein said plurality of instructions are configured to cause said processor to perform the steps of;

deteimining the occurrence of at least one of a specified time of day, a specified day of the week and a predefined period of inactivity;

dimming said light source in response to the determining of the occurrence of at least one of the time of day, the day of the week and the predefined period of inactivity.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , turning-off said light source comprises at least one of turning off at least one of said plurality of LEDs and adjusting a power supplied to said light source.