In December 1970 Gilbert Hyatt filed a patent application entitled Single Chip Integrated Circuit Computer Architecture based on work begun in 1968. This was the first patent application for a microprocessor. The patent was granted in 1990 but later invalidated.
"A patent on the microcontroller [microprocessor], predating the only two Intel patents related to the MCS-4, was granted to Gilbert Hyatt in 1990. This patent described the architecture and logic design of a microcontroller, claiming that it could be integrated into a single chip. This patent was later invalidated in a patent interference case brought forth by Texas Instruments, on account that the device it described was never implemented and was not implementable with the technology available at the time of the invention" (http://www.intel4004.com/hyatt.htm, accessed 12-02-2013).