Canon Patent For 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 Lens

Egami (translated) spotted a patent for a 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 lens with diffractive optical elements. We saw other patents for a 100-400mm in the past. The patent refers also to a 70-300mm  f/4.5-5.6 lens.

Is this the patent for the replacement for the Canon EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS? Don’t think so, since the patent refers to a lens without IS. Just recently a rather weak rumor surfaced suggesting that the EF 100-400 f/4.5-5.6L IS replacement could be the next “L” lens Canon is going to announce, the latest rumor in a long series for this lens that hopefully will be seen one day.

• Patent Publication No. 2014-89385
  • Publication date 2014.5.15
  • Filing date 2012.10.31
• Example 1
  • Zoom ratio 3.78
  • Focal length f = 103.00-200.00-388.94mm
  • Fno. 4.63-5.24-5.83
  • Half angle ω = 11.86-6.17-3.18 °
  • Image height Y = 21.64mm
  • 228.82-273.58-303.10mm total length
  • BF 69.48-90.93-105.73mm
• Example 6
  • Zoom ratio 4.00
  • Focal length f = 72.50-135.00-289.99mm
  • Fno. 4.44-5.04-5.85
  • Half angle ω = 16.62-9.10-4.27 °
  • Image height Y = 21.64mm
  • 143.91-177.69-203.15mm total length
  • BF 39.10-39.10-39.10mm

[via Egami]