Patent ID: 7657320

Claim:
An in-vivo electronic device, comprising: a switching regulator power converter selected from the group consisting of a Buck converter and a Boost converter for converting energy extracted from a power source to powering the device having a first pair of terminals; a common inductive element configured to function in a communication mode as an antenna for inductively picking up communication signals, and in a power conversion mode as an inductive element of the switching regulator power conversion, said inductive element having a second pair of terminals; a receiver for receiving said inductively picked up communications signals having a third pair of terminals; a controllable switch for switching respective terminals of said first pair of terminals between corresponding terminals of said second pair of terminals and said third pair of terminals on a time-multiplexed basis to change between said communication mode and said power conversion mode; and a microcontroller for controlling said switch to select said second pair of terminals or said third pair of terminals according to the requirements of latency and length of the messages to be received.