Sometimes patents provide valuable information about upcoming products. For example the first Nikon mirrorless patent was reported back in August of 2009 (incl. also a patent for the Nikkor 24mm f/1.4). Here are the most interesting Nikon patents filed since the last recap:
Nikon filed a patent application (#20110228407) for a 70-200mm f/4 VR II lens:
Nikon 18-300mm f/3.5-5.6 lens patent 2011186159 with 15.7x zoom ratio and 3 aspherical surfaces:
Nikon filed a patent 2011175190 that will allow the lens to be detached from the back of the camera:
