“claim differentiation”是指“申请专利范围相异原则”。claim differentiation的法理为文义上相异的claim之间，应解译成具有相异的权利范围，特别是具有附属关系的claim群组，被附属的claim其所包含的范围：不包括附属项的限定条件。

可参考英文：The doctrine of claim differentiation “create[s] a presumption that each claim in a patent has a different scope.” Comark Communications, Inc. v. Harris Corp., 156 F.3d 1182, 1187 (Fed. Cir. 1998). The difference in meaning and scope between claims is presumed to be significant “[t]o the extent that the absence of such difference in meaning and scope would make a claim superfluous.” Tandon Corp. v. United States Int’l Trade Comm’n, 831 F.2d 1017, 1023 (Fed. Cir. 1987). Here, dependent claims limiting the claim to a single cable confirm that the independent claims may encompass more than one cable.