Independend how do you count a genius, outstanding patent or simply a variation from a basic math insight applied to a circuit, feed to the patent office and let the court decide what was before (chicken or egg)...
I remember one of my first MOS books
http://www.abebooks.de/products/isbn/9783519000730/Gad-Horst/Feldeffektelektroni...where a MOS used as a single ended resistor is linearized by adding 1/2 of the resistor across voltage is added to the gate control voltage.
The normal expression for Ids is:
Ids=u*Cox*(W/L)*(Vgs-Vth-Vds/2)*Vds
The question is what is the
genius of what to do with Vgs so that the expression is linear in Vds?
I would advise that the patent is trivial if the key idea is a math manipulation.
Or simply put the solution "Ids linear on Vds" into a symbolic math engine. Copy the resulting equation and built it by basic (non-genius) construction rules. I am shure that many circuit patents are based by math rules and manipulations but then are put under the the magic umbrella of a circuit genius.
is IP the next (third bubble in this century) ...