Patent ID: 8755918

Claim:
An illumination device comprising: an illumination instrument whose light source is an LED illumination lamp; and a controller that is separate from the illumination instrument, the controller including a receiving unit which has a receiving function to receive information about an exchange time of the LED illumination lamp from the illumination instrument, the controller configured to test automatically the receiving function of the receiving unit on a routine basis to ensure that the receiving unit reliably will receive the information to exchange the LED illumination lamp, wherein the controller receives the information about the exchange time of the LED illumination lamp from the illumination instrument during an OFF period of the LED illumination lamp after a long period of time has passed since a most recent exchange of the LED illumination lamp, and wherein the controller further includes a control unit which remotely controls turn-on/off of the LED illumination lamp, and wherein the controller tests automatically the receiving function of the receiving unit in association with the turn-off control of the LED illumination lamp by the control unit.