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)].
If a patent is granted, it will expire 20 years from the filing date of the patent application. If the patent office takes longer than three years to examine and grant a patent, the term of the patent may be adjusted accordingly. In some ways it may be beneficial to the inventor to have a long wait since the life of his patent will be extended.