Patent ID: 8410700

Claim:
An electrodeless lighting system comprising: a magnetron having a filament therein and generating microwave; a resonator having an electrodeless light bulb therein and resonating microwave generated from the magnetron; a wave guide guiding the microwave generated from the magnetron to the resonator; and a control unit configured to: apply a filament current which is the same as or greater than a pre-set first current to the filament during an initial starting stage, compare a number of pulses of light in the electrodeless light bulb with a pre-set reference number of pulses, determine that the electrodeless light bulb is in a pre-set normal state when the number of pulses of the light in the electrodeless light bulb is greater than the reference number of pulses, and based on the determination that the electrodeless light bulb is in a pre-set normal state, change and apply the filament current which is the same as or smaller than a second current to the filament, wherein the second current is smaller than the first current.