The number of Nikon patents worrisome shrinking over the years

The latest trend is that Nikon patent applications are shrinking over the years – here is the data:

Nikon patents over time (source)

2011 number of published Nikon patent applications: 1776 (ranking: 23rd)
2012 number of published Nikon patent applications: 1624 (ranking: 23rd)
2013 number of published Nikon patent applications: 1832 (ranking: 20th)
2014 number of published Nikon patent applications: 1289 (ranking: 27th)
2015 number of published Nikon patent applications: 1086 (ranking: 35th)
2016 number of published Nikon patent applications: 510 (ranking: 83rd)
2017 number of published Nikon patent applications: 728 (ranking: 63rd)
2018 number of published Nikon patent applications: 667 (ranking: 58th)
2019 number of published Nikon patent applications: 588 (ranking: 70th)
2020 number of published Nikon patent applications: 475 (ranking: 83rd)
2021 number of published Nikon patent applications: 375 (ranking: 105th)
2022 number of published Nikon patent applications: 220 (ranking: 157th)