Patent 8007115 was granted and assigned to Sony on August, 2011 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A lamp driving apparatus configured to drive a plurality of types of lamps, each of the plurality of lamps is attached with lamp identification information for uniquely identifying the lamp. The lamp driving apparatus includes: a lamp power supply configured to drive the lamp; a read circuit configured to read the lamp identification information from the lamp; and a control circuit configured to control the lamp power supply on the basis of a result of identification obtained by use of the read lamp identification information. The control circuit, if the lamp is found to be authorized, makes the lamp power supply drive the lamp.