Patent ID: 8044797

Claim:
A system for locating an item in an urban environment, comprising: an RFID tag on an item which upon interrogation with an interrogation beam emits a coded signal indicative of the item back to a locator; the locator having a data entry device; a display on said locator; a directional antenna carried by said locator; a transmitter in said locator for projecting an interrogating beam using said directional antenna; a receiver and processor for detecting modulated backscatter return from the tagged item and for indicating on said display the identification of the item detected; and, a computer for registering items, the code associated therewith and the name of the item in a computer listing, wherein said locator is configured to store said listing in said locator, whereby said data in said locator can be used to identify the item sought by its name such that only the item sought backscatters information back to the locator, and such that only the names of a selected item is displayed, and wherein the selection of an item results in an interrogation beam coded with the code associated with the selected item, whereby the range of said system is increased due to a reduction in the signal-to-noise ratio.