Patent ID: 7304303

Claim:
The method of seeking to retrieve an item that has been lost which method comprises imparting to the outer surface of such item a hologram by securing thereto retroreflective glass bead components selectively responsive to a laser beam having an explicit wave length selected from the atmospheric penetrating group of wavelengths selected from the group consisting of 880 nm, 1310 nm and 1550 nm; directing from a monitoring device controlled by a searcher and initially remote from said temporarily lost item, a laser beam having the explicit wavelength corresponding to the wavelength for which said hologram is selectively responsive, said laser beam being directed into a search zone in which the temporarily lost item is believed to be, and said laser beam stimulating the reflection from such components of feedback light; said monitoring device comprising receptor cells responsive to such feedback light, such receptor cells generating an electrical signal; said monitoring device comprising amplifying means for amplifying such electric signal; said monitoring device comprising indicating means actuated by such amplifying means for alerting the searcher to the varying intensity of such indicating means when the laser beam scans a search zone possibly containing such temporarily lost item.