Canon Patent Application: Mirrorless Camera power zoom attachment

In the past, Canon created a power zoom attachment for the EF-S 18-135mm, and then proceeded to ignore it for any future lenses.

This patent application shows a similar power zoom attachment held onto the lens by a collar attachment.

I hope, unlike the power zoom attachment for the 18-135mm, that if Canon develops such a device, they use it on more than one lens.  Canon is also with this patent application, considering that it can be used with lenses that are not specifically designed for the attachment, something I think would be good news.

From the Patent Application;

[It] can be solved by mounting a drive unit for driving the interchangeable lens from the outside. Further, by making the drive unit detachable by the user, smooth zooming can be performed even with an existing interchangeable lens that has not conventionally been compatible with electric zoom.

In the drive unit of the prior art document 1, a screw hole is provided from the outer periphery of the interchangeable lens to the inside thereof, and the interchangeable lens is tightened with a screw to realize accuracy and rigidity at the time of attachment.

and Canon states as the Patent objective;

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and has as its object to provide an interchangeable lens including an existing lens without providing a screw hole in the interchangeable lens and without requiring positioning by a user. An object of the present invention is to provide a motorized driving of a zoom by using a lens. 

This could be a handy little device if it works across a number of Canon RF lenses.

Japan Patent Application 2020-008706