ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,300,869, issued on May 13, was assigned to Intel Corp. (Santa Clara, Calif.).

"Directional coupler comprising a first linear conductor coupled to a second winding conductor, such that the first conductor has a length less than one-quarter wavelength" was invented by Tzvi Maimon (Kiryat Shmuel, Israel), Tamir Levinger (Haida District, Israel) and Fabian Cossoy (Atlit, Israel).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A signal coupling system may include a directional coupler that includes a first conductor and a second conductor. The first conductor may include a first end and a second end and may be generally arranged along a first plane. The second...