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)].
Sometime after you pay the issue fee, the USPTO will send an Issue Notification containing your patent issue date and coveted patent number. After the patent issues, it's just a matter of paying maintenance fees due at 4, 8 and 12 years to keep the patent enforceable during its 20-year lifespan. Successfully steering an invention all the way to a patent is one reason inventors seem to generate a sense of awe. It takes a certain feistiness to make it happen.