A Fish Tape Assembly

Abstract

A fish tape assembly comprising: a fish tape having a first and second opposite ends, configured to be pushed/pulled via a conduit pathway extending within a wall; a location indicator coupled to the fish tape, and configured to enable detecting a current location of the location indicator along a conduit pathway, through which the first end of the fish tape is being pushed; and a monitor, configured to enable receiving information that relates to the current location of the location indicator, thereby allowing generation of a three-dimensional (3D) map of the conduit pathway.

Claims

1. A fish tape assembly comprising: a fish tape having a first and second opposite ends, configured to be pushed/pulled via a conduit pathway extending within a wall and/or a floor and/or a ceiling; a location indicator coupled to the fish tape, configured to enable detecting a current location of the location indicator along a conduit pathway, through which said first end of the fish tape is being pushed; and a monitor, configured to enable receiving information that relates to the current location of the location indicator, thereby allowing generation of a three-dimensional (3D) map of said conduit pathway.

2. The fish tape assembly of claim 1, wherein the location indicator comprises at least one image sensor and a transmitter configured to forward data obtained by the at least one image sensor along the conduit pathway, towards said monitor.

3. The fish tape assembly of claim 1, wherein the location indicator comprises inertial sensors and a transmitter configured to forward data obtained by the inertial sensors along the conduit pathway, towards said monitor.

4. The fish tape assembly of claim 1, wherein the location indicator comprises a combination of at least one image sensor and inertial sensors, and further comprises a transmitter configured to forward data obtained by said combination of sensors along the conduit pathway, towards the monitor.

5. The fish tape assembly of claim 1, wherein the location indicator comprises a heat generator configured to generate a hot spot at the first end of the fish tape, and wherein said monitor comprises a thermal detecting means configured to the detect changes in the location of the of the hot spot along the conduit pathway.

6. The fish tape assembly of claim 1, wherein said location indicator is coupled substantially at the first end of the fish tape, and configured to enable detecting the current location of the first end of the fish tape along the conduit pathway.

7. The fish tape assembly of claim 1, wherein said location indicator is coupled to the fish tape at any desired location along the fish tape.

8. The fish tape assembly of claim 1, comprising a plurality of location indicators, each coupled to the fish tape at a different distance from its first end.

9. The fish tape assembly of claim 1, wherein the location indicator further comprises a power supply.

10. The fish tape assembly of claim 1, wherein the monitor further comprises one or more processors adapted to receive information generated at the first end of the fish tape concerning its current location and to generate a 3D map which describes the conduit pathway that extends between a starting access point at which the first end of the fish tape assembly was inserted into the conduit, to an end access point at which the first end of the fish tape assembly emerged from the wall/ceiling/floor.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] For a more complete understanding of the present invention, reference is now made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

[0031] FIG. 1—is an illustration of an example of a fish tape assembly construed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

[0032] FIG. 2—is a schematic block diagram exemplifying an embodiment of the present invention of components comprised in the location indicator of the fish tape assembly of FIG. 1; and

[0033] FIG. 3—is a schematic block diagram exemplifying an embodiment of the present invention of components comprised in the monitor of the fish tape assembly of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] In this disclosure, the term “comprising” is intended to have an open-ended meaning so that when a first element is stated as comprising a second element, the first element may also include one or more other elements that are not necessarily identified or described herein, or recited in the claims.

[0035] In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a better understanding of the present invention by way of examples. It should be apparent, however, that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details.

[0036] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a fish tape assembly (100) construed in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The fish tape assembly in this example comprises a fish tape (110) having a first (120) and second (130) opposite ends, configured to be pushed/pulled via a conduit pathway extending within a wall and/or a floor and/or a ceiling and a location indicator (140) coupled to a first end (120) of the fish tape (110), configured to enable detecting a current location of the first end of the fish tape along a conduit pathway, through which said first end of the fish tape is being pushed. The fish tape assembly (100) of this example further comprises a monitor (150). Monitor (150) is configured to enable receiving information generated by the location indicator (140), information that relates to the current location of the first end (120) of the fish tape (110), thereby allowing generation of a three-dimensional (3D) map of said conduit pathway.

[0037] Although in the example illustrated in FIG. 1 the location indicator is illustrated as being a single location indicator coupled to the first end of the fish tape, the present invention should be understood to encompass other configurations as well. For example, according to the present invention the location indicator may be coupled at any desired location along the fish tape (i.e., at any desired distance from the first end of the fish tape). Moreover, there may a plurality of location indicators, each coupled to the fish tape at a different distance from its first end.

[0038] In this example, monitor (150) is an external device such as a smartphone, a computer terminal, and the like that includes one or more processors that receive the information generated by location indicator (140) and generate a three-dimensional (3D) map of the conduit pathway along which the fish tape is moving.

[0039] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram exemplifying an embodiment of the present invention of components comprised in location indicator (200). First, the location indicator comprises one or more sensors (210) configured to indicate where location indicator (200) is currently present. Such sensors may be an image sensor, an inertial sensor, or any combination thereof.

[0040] The signals obtained from the sensor (or the plurality of sensors) are conveyed to a transmitting circuit (220) which is adapted to forward the conveyed signals to one or more processors (not shown in this figure) for their processing in order to generate a three-dimensional map therefrom.

[0041] Another optional sensor that may be used in accordance with another embodiment construed in accordance with the present invention is a heat generating sensor (hot spot) which is not shown in this figure. The main operational difference between using this sensor and those described above is that while the output signals retrieved from an image sensor or from inertial sensors is conveyed to a transmitting circuit which in turn forward to processing means, the output of the heat generating sensor is depicted by an external device (such as a thermal module) which is not part of the location indicator.

[0042] Location indicator (200) further comprises a power supply circuit (230) which enables the operation of the sensors and the transmitting circuit throughout the movement of the fish tape along the conduit pathway.

[0043] FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram exemplifying an embodiment of the present invention of components comprised in monitor (300). Monitor (300) comprises a receiving circuit (310) that is configured to receive the output generated by the sensor(s) comprised in the location indicator. The receiving circuit forwards the received output in a form of signals to one or more processors (320) which in turn convert the signals into a 3D map of the conduit pathway, through which the fish tape with the location indicator couple thereto are moving. The processed information (or the raw information) received from processor 320 may optionally be stored at storage 330. Also, the processed information may optionally be forwarded from processors 320 to display 340 and displayed thereat as a 3d map of the conduit pathway. In the alternative, the processed information stored at storage 330 may be used to display the 3D map at display 340.

[0044] As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the map generated by using the fish tape assembly of the present invention, is a three-dimensional map, it includes among others also details about bends in the conduit, blockages/partial blockages in the conduit, and the like, so that any problem which might occur while inserting the fish tape due to bends/blockages of the conduit, can be easily solved by knowing the exact location of the obstacle that is responsible for the problem.

[0045] In the description and claims of the present application, each of the verbs, “comprise” “include” and “have”, and conjugates thereof, are used to indicate that the object or objects of the verb are not necessarily a complete listing of members, components, elements or parts of the subject or subjects of the verb.

[0046] The present invention has been described using detailed descriptions of embodiments thereof that are provided by way of example and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention in any way. The described embodiments comprise different features, not all of which are required in all embodiments of the invention. Some embodiments of the present invention utilize only some of the features or possible combinations of the features.

[0047] Variations of embodiments described herein and embodiments of the present invention comprising different combinations of features noted in the described embodiments will occur to persons of the art. The scope of the invention is limited only by the following claims.