I claim:
1. A measuring tape comprising:
a case;
a blade wound within said case and graduated in marked increments;
an exposed hook at one end of said blade for unwinding said blade and drawing said blade out from said case;
and means coupling with at least one of said hook and a length of said blade adjacent said hook in forming a grasping tool thereof of fallen objects separate and apart from employing said marked increments in linear measurement.
2. The measuring tape of claim 1 wherein said means cooperates with at least one of said hook and said length of blade in forming said grasping tool for falling objects independent of the length of blade drawn out from said case by said hook.
3. The measuring tape of claim 2 wherein said blade is of a metallic fabrication.
4. The measuring tape of claim 3 wherein said metallic blade is of a fabrication pliant to twisting and bending to a prescribed shape.
5. The measuring tape of claim 2 wherein said exposed hook is swivelably joined at said blade end in allowing for establishment of a slot therebetween of variable thickness.
6. The measuring tape of claim 2 wherein said exposed hook is magnetized.
7. The measuring tape of claim 2 wherein said exposed hook includes a first downwardly extending portion and a second angled portion extending upwardly therefrom.
8. The measuring tape of claim 2 wherein said exposed hook is substantially orthogonal from top to bottom.
9. The measuring tape of claim 2 wherein said exposed hook tapers inwardly from top to bottom.
10. The measuring tape of claim 2 wherein said blade includes a plurality of slots along said length for receiving and holding said exposed hook in a selected slot thereof when looped about said blade when drawn in fitting therewith.
11. The measuring tape of claim 2 wherein said blade includes a plurality of slots along said length for receiving and holding said exposed hook in a selected slot thereof when looped under said blade when drawn in fitting therewith.
12. The measuring tape of claim 2, also including a sheath at a bottom of said case through which said blade passes when drawn, with said sheath being extendable and pliant to retain a prescribed shape to which said sheath is twisted and bent.
13. The measuring tape of claim 12, additionally including a tab coupled to said sheath for drawing said sheath out from said bottom of said case.
14. The measuring tape of claim 12, including means to adhesively secure said sheath to said bottom of said case.
15. The measuring tape of claim 12 wherein said sheath is of the order of 2-5 in length.
16. The measuring tape of claim 2, also including an adhesive strip at an underside of said case having a tab extension through which said blade passes when drawn, with said adhesive strip being extendable by said tab from said underside of said case, and with said strip being peelable forwardly of, and around, said exposed hook for securement at a top surface of said blade.
17. The measuring tape of claim 16, including a plurality of said adhesive strips, each of which is individually peelable forwardly and around said exposed hook in use, and discardable thereafter.
The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.
1. A transmitter capable of communicating signals via at least one communication line, comprising:
a pilot symbol loader module configured to generate a pilot signal for transmission through the at least one communication line, the pilot signal including at least one QAM 0 sub-matrix, the QAM 0 sub-matrix being a sub-matrix of pilot signal slots that are each loaded with a QAM 0 value, the pilot symbol loader module including:
a pilot symbol generator module configured to fill the at least one QAM 0 sub matrix with QAM 0 values, and to fill areas of the pilot signal that are not within the at least one QAM 0 sub-matrix with QAM values selected from a determined subset of M values that do not include QAM 0 values,
wherein the QAM 0 value is located at an origin of a corresponding QAM constellation, and
wherein the pilot signal is to be used for estimating transmission crosstalk.
2. The transmitter according to claim 1, wherein the pilot signal is represented by a plurality of slots arranged in a matrix, each row of the matrix corresponding to one communication line of the at least one communication line, and each column of the matrix corresponding to a unit transmission time interval for data to be transferred on each of the at least one communication line so as to form a pilot symbol.
3. The transmitter according to claim 2, wherein each slot of the pilot signal includes one QAM value selected from a predetermined subset of available QAM values.
4. The transmitter according to claim 3, wherein the predetermined subset of available QAM values includes only QAM +1, QAM \u22121 and QAM 0.
5. The transmitter according to claim 2, wherein the pilot symbol loader module further includes:
a sub-matrix module configured to set the at least one QAM 0 sub-matrix within the pilot signal matrix that is smaller in dimension than the pilot signal matrix.
6. The transmitter according to claim 5, wherein the first predetermined subset includes only QAM +1 values and QAM \u22121 values.
7. The transmitter according to claim 6, wherein the pilot symbol generator module is configured to fill one sub-matrix of the at least one sub-matrix by selecting, for each row of the one sub-matrix, a row of a Hadamard matrix having the same row dimension as the one sub-matrix.
8. A receiver capable of communicating via at least one communication line and receiving a pilot signal having a plurality of slots arranged in a matrix, comprising:
a sub-matrix identification (M) module configured to identify locations and boundaries of at least one sub-matrix contained within the received pilot signal based on values within the plurality of slots of the pilot signal, the at least one sub-matrix being smaller in dimension than the pilot signal matrix; and
a crosstalk vector calculation module configured to calculate a crosstalk compensation vector only for each slot contained within the at least one sub-matrix.
9. The receiver according to claim 8, further comprising a pilot symbol detection module configured to analyze a received signal in order to detect whether the received signal is the pilot signal.
10. The receiver according to claim 9, wherein the pilot symbol detection module is configured to detect whether the received signal is the pilot signal by comparing values of multiple slots of the received signal to a predetermined subset of available QAM values.
11. The receiver according to claim 8, wherein the sub-matrix ID module is configured to identify an intended value of each slot within the pilot signal from among a predetermined subset of intended values by determining to which intended value a received value of each slot is nearest.
12. The receiver according to claim 11, wherein the predetermined subset of intended values includes QAM +1, QAM \u22121, and QAM 0.
13. The receiver according to claim 12, wherein the sub-matrix ID module is configured to identify the location and boundary of the at least one sub-matrix by identifying groups of identified values that include only QAM +1 and QAM \u22121.
14. The receiver according to claim 11, wherein the sub-matrix ID module is configured to interpolate an intended value of a slot based on values contained within immediately adjacent slots.
15. The receiver according to claim 8, further comprising a crosstalk symbol loader module configured to generate a response signal having a plurality of slots arranged in a matrix and including at least one sub-matrix corresponding to the at least one sub-matrix of the received pilot signal,
wherein the crosstalk symbol loader module fills the at least one sub-matrix of the response signal with the crosstalk compensation vectors calculated by the crosstalk vector calculation module of the corresponding slots of the received pilot signal, and
wherein the crosstalk symbol loader module fills the slots of the response signal that are not included in the at least one sub-matrix of the response signal with received values of the corresponding slots of the received pilot signal.
16. A method of measuring crosstalk within a pilot signal, the pilot signal including a plurality of slots arranged in a matrix, the method comprising:
receiving the pilot signal by a receiver;
identifying, based on values within the plurality of slots of the pilot signal, at least one sub-matrix within the pilot signal that is smaller in dimension than the pilot signal matrix; and
calculating cross-talk compensation vectors only for slots contained within the at least one sub-matrix.
17. The method according to claim 16, further comprising identifying an intended value of each slot within the pilot signal from among a predetermined subset of intended values by determining to which intended value a received value of each slot is nearest.
18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the at least one sub-matrix is identified based on locations of groups of slots whose intended values are either QAM +1 and QAM \u22121.
19. The method according to claim 16, further comprising:
generating a response signal having a plurality of slots arranged in a matrix and including at least one sub-matrix corresponding to the at least one sub-matrix of the received pilot signal, the generating including:
filling the at least one sub-matrix of the response signal with the calculated crosstalk compensation vectors of the corresponding slots of the received pilot signal, and
filling the slots of the response signal that are not included in the at least one sub-matrix of the response signal with received values of the corresponding slots of the received pilot signal.
20. A transmitter capable of communicating signals via at least one communication line, comprising:
a pilot symbol loader module configured to generate a pilot signal for transmission through the at least one communication line, the pilot signal including a first sub-matrix loaded with QAM 0 values located at an origin of a QAM constellation, and a second sub-matrix loaded with non-QAM 0 values that have QAM constellation locations other than the origin, the pilot symbol loader module including:
a pilot symbol generator module configured to fill the first sub-matrix with the QAM 0 values, and to fill the second sub-matrix with the non-QAM 0 values, the non-QAM 0 values being selected from a predetermined subset of QAM values that do not include QAM 0 values,
wherein the pilot signal is to be used for estimating transmission crosstalk.
21. The transmitter according to claim 1, wherein the pilot symbol loader module is configured to load a plurality of pilot symbols onto corresponding ones of the at least one communication line, wherein at least two of the pilot symbols are the same.
22. The transmitter according to claim 21, wherein the at least two pilot symbols overlap with the at least one QAM 0 sub-matrix.