Unitary ice maker with fresh food compartment and control system therefor

In a unitary ice maker with fresh food compartment of the type including a fresh food compartment, a freezer compartment containing an automatic ice making unit, the automatic ice making unit including an ice mold, a first temperature sensing means in thermal contact with the ice mold for producing a first signal indicative of the temperature of the ice mold, and means for harvesting ice from the ice mold, and refrigeration means for producing ice in the automatic ice making unit, the improvement wherein the unitary ice maker with fresh food compartment further comprises:

• second temperature sensing means exposed to the fresh food compartment for producing a second temperature signal indicative of the temperature of the interior of the fresh food compartment;
• ice maker control means connected to the refrigeration means and to the first and second temperature signals for initiating an ice harvest in the automatic ice making unit by monitoring the first temperature signal to determine the time at which ice in the automatic ice making unit is ready to be harvested, and at that time, then monitoring the second temperature signal to determine if the temperature of the fresh food compartment is below a predetermined setpoint temperature, whereby if at the time that the ice in the automatic ice making unit is ready to be harvested, the temperature of the fresh food compartment is above the setpoint temperature, then the ice harvest is delayed to allow additional cooling of the fresh food compartment.