Patent ID: 8417340

Claim:
An implant device that is implantable inside an organism and adapted to wirelessly communicate with a device external to the organism, the implant device comprising: an electronic device configured to transmit wireless communications of implant device data via an antenna array using electromagnetic signals comprising a wavelength of λ t in tissue inside the organism; and the antenna array communicatively coupled with the electronic device and adapted to wirelessly transmit the implant device data external to the organism, the antenna array comprising two or more individual antenna elements configured in a substantially parallel alignment at a fixed distance with respect to one another of substantially n[(½)λ t ], where n comprises a whole number selected from the set of positive whole numbers [1, 2, 3, . . . ], and [(½)λ t ] is one half of the wavelength of λ t in tissue inside the organism, wherein the configuration of the two or more individual antenna elements is thereby adapted to promote destructive interference of electromagnetic waves emitted by the individual antenna elements in a first plane, the first plane corresponding to a tissue plane when the implant device is implanted in the organism, and wherein the configuration of the two or more individual antenna elements is thereby adapted to promote constructive interference of the electromagnetic waves in a direction substantially normal to the first plane; and a reflector and a spacer material separating the reflector and the antenna array, wherein the reflector is configured at a fixed reflecting distance with respect to the antenna array of [(λ s /4)+(nλ s /2)], where n comprises a whole number selected from the set of positive whole numbers [1, 2, 3, . . . ] and λ s is a wavelength of electromagnetic signals transmitted by the antenna array in the spacer material, wherein the configuration of the reflector is thereby adapted to promote constructive interference of reflected electromagnetic waves with the electromagnetic waves emitted by the individual antenna elements in a direction substantially normal to the first plane.