国家知识产权局将“patent family”译为“专利族”，当然“专利家族”也是可以的。据其解释，由至少一个共同优先权联系的一组专利文献，称一个专利族（Patent Family）。在同一专利族中每件专利文献被称作专利族成员（Patent Family Members)，同一专利族中每件专利互为同族专利。

WIPO Handbook and Industrial Property Information and Documentation（《工业产权信息与文献手册》）将专利族分类六类，如下所示：

(1) Simple Patent Family（简单专利族）

Simple patent family means a patent family relating to the same invention, each member of which has for the basis of its “priority right” exactly the same originating application or applications.

在同一个专利族中，专利族成员以共同的一个或共同的几个专利申请为优先权，这样的专利族为简单专利族。

(2) Complex Patent Family（复杂专利族）

“Complex patent family” means a patent family relating to the same invention or to several inventions sharing a common aspect, each member of which has for the basis of its “priority right” at least one originating application in common with the other members of the family.

在同一个专利族中，专利族成员至少以一个共同的专利申请为优先权，这样的专利族为复杂专利族。

(3) Extended Patent Family（扩展专利族）

“Extended patent family” means a patent family relating to one or more inventions, each member of which has for the basis of its “priority right” at least one originating application in common with at least one other member of the family.

在同一个专利族中，每个专利族成员与该组中的至少一个其他专利族成员至少共同以一个专利申请为优先权，他们所构成的专利族为扩展专利族。

(4) National Patent Family（本国专利族）

“National patent family” means a patent family relating to one or more inventions, the members of which are published by the same office and at least two of which are distinct from each other (i.e., not merely a different procedural publication stage for the same originating application - see domestic patent family), and having for their basis of “priority right” at least one originating application in common with the other members of the family. The relationship of at least two of the published patent documents in this type of patent family is a result of additions, continuations, continuations-in-part, or divisions of the original subject of invention covered by an originating application.

本国专利族是指在同一个专利族中，每个专利族成员均为同一国家的专利文献，这些专利文献属于同一原始申请的增补专利、继续申请、部分继续申请、分案申请等，但不包括同一专利申请在不同审批阶段出版的专利文献。

(5) Domestic Patent Family（内部专利族）

“Domestic patent family” means a patent family consisting solely of a single office’s different procedural publications for the same originating applications(s).

内部专利族指仅由一个专利机构在不同审批程序中对同一原始申请出版的一组专利文献所构成的专利族。

(6) Artificial Patent Family（人工专利族）

Artificial Patent Family (intellectual or non-conventional patent family) – means a patent family consisting of a collection of equivalent patent documents (i.e., documents relating to the same invention) published by different offices and at least some of which do not share a common originating application or applications (or where data relating to such a common originating application is not disclosed). The members of this type of family are determined only after intellectual investigation to have essentially the same disclosed content.

人工专利族也称智能专利族、非常规专利族，即内容基本相同，但并非以共同的一个或几个专利申请为优先权，而是根据专利文献的技术内容，人为地进行归类，组成的一组由不同国家出版的专利文献构成的专利族，但实际上在这些专利文献之间没有任何优先权联系。

来源：

国家知识产权局官网；WIPO官网