A tsunami of Accenture patents ahead?

From Accenture's 10k released today:

We recognize the increasing value of intellectual property in the marketplace and vigorously create, harvest and protect our intellectual property. As of August 31, 2008, we had 1,709 patent applications pending in the United States and other jurisdictions and had been issued 344 U.S. patents and 223 non-U.S. patents in, among others, the following areas: goal-based educational simulation; virtual call centers; hybrid telecommunications networks; development architecture frameworks; emotion-based voice processing; mobile communications networks; location-based information filtering; and computerized multimedia asset systems. We intend to continue to vigorously identify, create, harvest and protect our intellectual property and to leverage our protected, differentiated assets and methodologies to provide superior value to our clients.

1709 is a big jump from 567 (344 + 223) patents. Looks like Accenture may be gearing up to pursue a more aggressive IP strategy.