I'm not sure what that means either.
Those have been around since v1 in 1992 or 1993. They may have been even earlier in Animation:Journeyman, but I know nothing of that program.
I recall those being introduced sometime after v5, perhaps around 1997
Martin said once here that in the beginning there were no polygons at all, ever, it was ALL splines through the whole pipeline. Later, to improve render time, temporary subdivision of the patches was added. I don't understand it all.
Based on Martins' comments, A:M's renderer seems to be a REYES renderer
Possibly, but it would have to be for a fabulous reason.