The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average temperatures for the quarter of the year centered on February. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.
The average time it takes to obtain a patent from the patent office at this time is about 32 months or a little under 3 years. [See the current wait time statistics at the USPTO website [ here ] (best viewed with Internet Explorer)].
The patent law provides that the life of a patent is no longer than 20 years from the date that the patent application was filed, and no shorter than 17 years from issuance. Depending upon how fast the patent office issues your patent can significantly impact the total length of the patent term.