Ice dispensing and detecting apparatus

An ice dispenser apparatus comprising:

• an ice storage bin for storing ice pieces;
• a metering device coupled to the ice storage bin and selectively dispensing individual ice pieces from the ice storage bin;
• a sensing device detecting individual ice pieces dispensed from the metering device, wherein the metering device and the sensing device enable the counting of the number of ice pieces dispensed;
• and
• a control system configured to receive a user input of the desired number of ice pieces to define an ice piece count for dispensing and an output of the a sensing device regarding the number of the dispensed ice pieces, wherein the control system uses the output of the sensing device to count the number of ice pieces that are dispensed and permits dispensing of the individual ice pieces until the number of pieces dispensed satisfies the ice piece count.

A refrigerator having an ice dispenser apparatus comprising:

• an ice storage bin for storing ice pieces;
• a metering device coupled to the ice storage bin and selectively dispensing individual ice pieces from the ice storage bin;
• a sensing device for detecting individual ice pieces dispensed from the metering device;
• and
• a control system configured to receive a user input of the desired number of ice pieces to define an ice piece count for dispensing and an output of the a sensing device to count the number of ice pieces that are dispensed;
• wherein the control system permits dispensing of the individual ice pieces until the count of the number of ice pieces dispensed satisfies the ice piece count.