See the nomination of Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil for the EFF award in 1997 (http://www.ncafe.com/chris/pat2/index.html http://www.ncafe.com/chris/pat2/index

See the nomination of Hedy Lamarr and George Antheil for the EFF award in 1997 (http://www.ncafe.com/chris/pat2/index.html http://www.ncafe.com/chris/pat2/index.html), she later received the award. Their invention was in 1942, way before the electronics that can implement this was invented, so it was mechanical.