FSA had a 11 speed derailleur patent back in 2007..
http://blog.rushsportscycling.com/files/2009/06/fsa-derailleur-fig-1.jpg
http://blog.rushsportscycling.com/files/2009/06/fsa-derailleur-fig-2.jpg
"FSA, Italian component manufacturers formerly well known for their design innovation have been quiet for some time now with nothing much triggering the radar. That was until yesterday afternoon however when I stumbled upon this: US 2007/0216130 A1 a little patent application filed on the 20th September 2007. In their patent is a design for an 11 speed rear derailleur that functions completely differently to ALL of the existing designs seen to date. It completely eliminates the need for a parallelogram to keep the derailleur moving parallel to the cassette and rather uses a set of small gears and drive in order to do so, simply and seemingly effectively.
Similarly innovative is the cable attachment [oh and we're getting to alternatives in a moment]. One often is heard complaining about just how difficult it is setting up 10 and 11 speed rear derailleurs as the room for error is far less than 7, 8 or even 9 speed counterparts. FSA however have a very simple and ingenious solution to this: automatically re-setting cable tension. What? Yes. Every time the rear derailleur is shifted into the “normal” -in this case High- gear the cable tension is mechanically re calibrated and adjusted in their words “so that an optimal position is always obtained for each inclination assumed by the bicycle transmission chain”.
In this design FSA have eliminated the need for a “floating” upper jockey wheel and as a result more precise, accurate and quieter shifting is possible. Moreover thanks to the elimination of the parallelogram and use of gears the derailleur will be able to make use of larger pivots and bushings increasing its life and dramatically improving its stiffness.
So how much better can it get? Well by using gears to control all of the rear derailleur movements it is far simpler to integrate servos to create an electronic system which could compete with Shimano and Campag. More-over FSA could implement an electronic “upgrade” system simply and effectively.
This is pure genius in my opinion! Whether or not they bring it to market it is this thinking that brings innovation, progress and healthy competition to our industry bringing us better, faster, stronger and lighter bikes. I love it!"