Abstract: A method of determining a title for a document includes recognizing at least a portion of an image of a document. The document includes text and recognizing at least a portion of the image of the document generates one or more character strings based on the text. The method also includes comparing the one or more character strings to each of a plurality of target document titles. Each target document title has a document code associated therewith and comparing produces a match measure based at least in part on the comparison. The method also includes determining whether the match measure exceeds a predetermined match threshold and assigning a document code to the document based on whether the match measure, produced by a comparison of a corresponding target document title to a target character string, exceeds the predetermined match threshold.

Abstract: A data verification system is configured to verify machine-recognized data elements acquired during a machine-implemented data acquisition process. The system includes a data verification workstation, a image server, and a data entry server. The data verification workstation is configured to obtain document images from the image server, present portions of document images to an operator, wherein the document images include text, and receive input from the operator based on the text. The input includes data elements. The data verification workstation is also configured to acquire machine-recognized data elements from the data entry server. The machine-recognized data elements were acquired from the document image during a machine-implemented data acquisition process based on the text.

Abstract: This invention uses linguistic principles, which together can be called Collocational Cohesion (CC), to evaluate and sort documents automatically into one or more user-defined categories, with a specified level of precision and recall. Human readers are not required to review all of the documents in a collection, so this invention can save time and money for any manner of large-scale document processing, including legal discovery, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, creation and review of archives, and maintenance and monitoring of electronic and other communications. Categories for evaluation are user-defined, not pre-set, so that users can adopt either traditional categories (such as different business activities) or custom, highly specific categories (such as perceived risks or sensitive matters or topics).

Abstract: A waveform compression and display technique saves both a peak detected version (background version) and a decimated/lowpass filtered version (foreground version) of a sampled electrical signal. The two versions are displayed simultaneously overlaid together in a contrasting manner so as not to obscure information contained in either of them. The lowpass filtered version uses a series of simple lowpass filters with decimation to produce a single data stream from a plurality of data streams derived from the sampled electrical signal. The single data stream may then be subjected to additional filtering, such as a cascaded integrator-comb filter, to obtain a desired frequency bandwidth. When displayed, the peak detect pixels adjacent the decimated/lowpass filtered pixels may be adjusted in intensity so that the low frequency information of the lowpass filtered waveform is not lost, while the peak detect pixels further from the lowpass filtered pixels are intensified to highlight the high frequency information.

Abstract: The encoding device of the present invention comprises a type determination unit inputs each bit of the weblet co-efficient in a depth direction in parallel and determines type information indicating which the bit is, the first “1” bit when viewed from an MSB side, a bit located further on the MSB side than the first “1” bit, a bit located further on an LSB side than the first “1” bit, a buffer unit for buffering the determined type information of each bit for each bit depth and a pass determination unit for determining pass information of a type information to process, of a plurality of pieces of type information, based on the plurality of pieces of buffered type information of the same depth.

Abstract: When an original image containing a code image is lossy-compressed, the image quality of the code image is deteriorated. Thus, due to the deterioration of the image quality of the code image, information contained in the code image cannot be acquired. Thus, a portion corresponding to the code image is not lossy compressed, and the portion corresponding to the code image, which has not been subjected to lossy compression, is stored in a storage unit.

Abstract: When an original image containing a code image is lossy-compressed, the image quality of the code image is deteriorated. Thus, due to the deterioration of the image quality of the code image, information contained in the code image cannot be acquired. Thus, a portion corresponding to the code image is not lossy compressed, and the portion corresponding to the code image, which has not been subjected to lossy compression, is stored in a storage unit.

Abstract: An image compressing apparatus carrying out code amount control upon JPEG2000 coding, in which the number of coding passes and a code amount for each code block generated by a MQ (arithmetic) coder are input, and the number of coding passes and the code amount are determined based on a first code amount control standard and a second code amount control standard given for each code block. For a specific code block, the second code amount control standard is used to determine the number of coding passes and the code amount, while, for the other code blocks, the first code amount control standard is used to determine the number of coding passes and the code amount.

Abstract: A rate control means for rate allocation in JPEG2000 processing apparatus is disclosed. The rate control means includes means to receive various parameters from the tier-1 coder and means to calculate R-D slope, means for composing a bucket element, means for comparing the RD slope of each bucket element with the threshold slope of each bucket, and selecting the bucket into which the current element is to be added; means for accepting the selected bucket number and generating an address for storing the current bucket element; means for keeping a count of, number of elements in each bucket and the sum of the differential byte count of each element in that bucket; for all buckets; means for including the bucket elements and means for keeping the record of number of coding passes and number of bytes to be included for each code block, during and after the rate control.

Abstract: An image transmission apparatus comprises an outline extraction processor, a selector, and a transmission module. The outline extraction processor extracts an outline of a specific-type image element in each of the image frames and to create outline data, based on image data representing the image frames. The selector selects the image data or the outline data for each image frame for transmission to an external receiving device. An image processing apparatus in another embodiment comprises an outline extraction processor, a scene change determination module, and a clipping processor. The scene change determination module determines that a scene change is occurred between two image frames when an amount of change between the outlines in the two image frames exceeds a prescribed threshold value.

Abstract: Disclosed are embodiments of systems and methods to generate a composite image from an captured image, such as from a whiteboard, chalkboard, paper, card, poster, sign, or the like. Systems and methods are disclosed for generating a foreground image layer and mask layer, which enables high-quality and high-ratio document compression. In embodiments, a foreground image layer and mask layer may be generated by identifying non-background pixels in the captured image.

Abstract: The present invention provides method and apparatus of digital video stream decoding by calculating the complexity of the B-type coded frame or macro-block and decoding whether the motion compensation can be skipped to save the time of accessing the referencing memory. The block with the decompressed accumulative pixel difference is less than a predetermined threshold and the motion vector equals to (0,0) or “Frame movement”, the motion compensation is skipped and one of the P-Type or I-type referencing frames will be accessed as the reference for motion compensation.

Abstract: The present invention is able to determine an encoding parameter using a simple method with little processing load or memory cost, and enables encoding of image data with excellent compression performance. To this end, a prediction error generating unit of an encoding apparatus according to the present invention calculates the difference (prediction error) between a pixel of interest and a predicted value. A prediction order conversion unit converts the prediction error to a non-negative integer, and outputs the non-negative integer as a prediction order M(e). A Golomb encoding unit performs encoding in accordance with a k parameter supplied from a k parameter updating unit. The k parameter updating unit updates the k parameter for use in the next updating based on the prediction order M(e) of the pixel of interest and the k parameter supplied to the Golomb encoding unit.

Abstract: An encoding method of losslessly encoding picture data is disclosed. The picture data are composed of pixel data. The pixel data whose number of quantizer bits is larger than eight bits are separated into a first portion and a second portion. The first portion is composed of eight bits on an LSB side. The second portion is composed of remaining bits on an MSB side excluding the first portion. A first encoding process is losslessly performed for the first portion. A second encoding process is losslessly performed for the second portion. The second encoding process is different from the first encoding process.

Abstract: An estimation system provides quality measure of a given image for image/video applications to determine if the image needs to be enhanced or not. The system systemically measures the image quality by estimating quantization parameter of the compressed digital image. This allows estimating the image quantization parameter effectively in the pixel domain. Because block artifact are caused by image compression transforms, especially in flat image region, the estimation system first detects the suspicious regions of the image for the block artifacts by calculating a variance for each location in the image. Next, noise power is computed by using the detected regions. Then, the estimated noise power is compared with the statistical model to calculate the quantization parameter that is used in the encoder side when the input image is compressed. Finally, a quantization parameter is used as a quality measure of the input image.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus is configured to carry out image processing on image data including pixel values of a plurality of pixels disposed on a plane defined in a horizontal direction and a vertical direction. The apparatus includes horizontal-direction image-processing means for carrying out image processing in the horizontal direction on a pixel value of a target pixel that is included in the image data; vertical-direction image-processing means for carrying out image processing in the vertical direction on the pixel value of the target pixel; diagonal-direction image-processing means carrying out image processing in a predetermined diagonal direction on the pixel value of the target; correction-value determination means for determining the correction value of the pixel value on the basis of processing results obtained by each means; and correction means correcting the pixel value of the target pixel.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a test method for image sharpness, which can instantly determine the sharpness of a captured image, wherein a captured image is firstly divided into multiple blocks with each block composed of multiple pixels; in each block of the captured image, the pixels having higher sharpnesses are selected, and the sharpnesses of those pixels are summed up to be the sharpness of the related block; the estimated sharpness of the captured image is also obtained similarly; and the estimated sharpness is compared with a threshold value to determine whether the captured image is sharp enough. Thereby, the present invention can test the sharpness of an image fast and correctly and inform the user of the status of the captured image and provide the user with corresponding suggestions.

Abstract: The invention provides a method, system, and program product for transforming a multi-dimensional biometric feature point set. More particularly, the invention provides a method for transforming a biometric image using surface folding of the image. In one embodiment, the invention provides a method for transforming a multi-dimensional biometric feature point set, the method comprising: converting the multi-dimensional biometric feature point set to a canonical position and orientation; applying a non-invertible transform function to each of a plurality of points of the biometric feature point set; and providing a transformed biometric feature point set comprising a plurality of transformed points.

Abstract: A method for detecting an obstacle by using two cameras, the obstacle being on a reference plane in a field of view common to the two cameras, the method inputting a first image and a second image from the two cameras, respectively, transforming the first image to a transformed image, obtaining a degree of similarity D indicating a similarity between an image in a processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the first image, obtaining a degree of similarity P indicating a similarity between an image in the processing region established in the second image and an image in a corresponding processing region established in the transformed image, detecting the obstacle based on the degree of similarity D and the degree of similarity P on a reference plane region, and determining a width and a height of the processing region on the basis of a position in the vertical direction on the second image.

Abstract: A first direction determining unit determines, with respect to each of directions in image data corresponding to an image that contains text, a degree of certainty that the direction corresponds to a predetermined direction of the image to obtain a first direction with the highest degree of certainty and a second direction with the second-highest degree of certainty. When the first direction is opposite to the second direction, a second direction determining unit determines whether the predetermined direction corresponds to the first direction or the second direction based on a position of a text line extracted from the image data.

Abstract: An apparatus for scaling an input image is disclosed. The apparatus includes a resolution determining circuit and a scaler. The determining circuit determines the resolution of the input image. The scaler includes a scaling filter with an adjustable number of filter taps and scales the input image to output scaled pixels, wherein an amount of taps of scaling filter corresponds to the resolution of the input image.

Abstract: An apparatus and a method for processing image data are disclosed. The apparatus detects whether the image data corresponds to one of a plurality of predetermined patterns to generate a detection result, selects one of a plurality of processing algorithms according to the detection result, and processes the image data according to the selected processing algorithm.

Abstract: A computer method of creating a super-resolved grayscale image from lower-resolution images using an L1 norm data fidelity penalty term to enforce similarities between low and a high-resolution image estimates is provided. A spatial penalty term encourages sharp edges in the high-resolution image, the data fidelity penalty term is applied to space invariant point spread function, translational, affine, projective and dense motion models including fusing the lower-resolution images, to estimate a blurred higher-resolution image and then a deblurred image. The data fidelity penalty term uses the L1 norm in a likelihood fidelity term for motion estimation errors. The spatial penalty term uses bilateral-TV regularization with an image having horizontal and vertical pixel-shift terms, and a scalar weight between 0 and 1. The penalty terms create an overall cost function having steepest descent optimization applied for minimization. Direct image operator effects replace matrices for speed and efficiency.

Abstract: An image processing apparatus for interpolating a pixel value of an interpolation pixel which makes an object of an interpolation process, includes a production section configured to produce, based on the position of the interpolation pixel, a pixel value group including the pixel value of the interpolation pixel and a plurality of pixel values of different pixels; a write control section configured to control a plurality of storage sections; a readout control section configured to control the storage sections so that the pixel values of the pixels included in the pixel value group are read out at a time from the storage sections in which the pixel values of the pixels included in the pixel value group are stored; and an interpolation section configured to interpolate the pixel value of the interpolation pixel using the pixel value group read out by the readout control section.

Abstract: A method of extracting data from a document image includes selecting a document classification for the document image that includes text. The classification is selected from a plurality of predetermined document classifications based on recognized text. The method also includes selecting rules from a database of rules based on the document classification. The rules define data elements to be populated based on recognized document text. The method also includes selecting target data elements from a database of data elements based on the selected document classification and the selected rules. The method also includes recognizing selected portions of the document image. The selected portions are determined by the selected rules. Recognizing selected portions of the document image generates one or more character strings based on recognized text. The method further includes comparing a specific character string to a target data element, thereby producing a match measure based on the comparison.

Abstract: Methods and system for transferring images between devices is disclosed. For example, differently scaled images by a host device may automatically and/or selectively be transferred to a media player for display. In turn, appropriately scaled images may be transferred automatically and/or selectively to another display device for example a TV, camera or printer. The selectivity may occur either at the host level or at the player level.

Abstract: A package with integral tracking device and method of forming includes a panel having an upper edge, an opposed lower edge and two side edges that form a flexible pouch. A tracking device is disposed within an air pocket formed in a seal. An opening means is integrally formed in the panel for accessing a product contained within the pouch. In another embodiment, the package is a container having a base wall and a side wall extending upwardly from an edge of the base wall. A cover removable encloses the container, and a valve is disposed in the cover for venting a gas from the container. The tracking device is disposed within an enclosed air pocket integrally formed in a base wall or a side wall of the container.

Abstract: A collapsible bag for dispensing liquids, including viscous liquids such as syrup and the like, comprising a first wall, a second wall, a spout, a surface variation associated with the first wall. The first wall and second wall are connected together to define a fluid chamber therebetween. The first wall and the second wall each have an inner surface facing the fluid chamber and an opposed outer surface. The spout is attached to one of the first and second walls, and has an opening therethrough having an axis substantially perpendicular to the one of the first and second walls to which it is attached. The surface variation is molded into at least a portion of the first wall. The surface variation limits contact between the inner surfaces of the first wall and the second wall so as to define a minimum unstressed volume therebetween wherein at least a portion of the minimum unstressed volume is maintained substantially throughout evacuation of liquid therefrom by suction.

Abstract: A flexible polymeric container for storing and dispensing liquids includes a first sidewall and a second sidewall connected together to define a fluid chamber therebetween. The first sidewall and the second sidewall are constructed of a coextrusion structure. The first sidewall and the second sidewall each have an inner surface facing the fluid chamber and an opposed outer surface. A fitment is attached to an outer surface of one of the first sidewall or the second sidewall. The fitment has an opening therethrough which has an axis substantially perpendicular to the outer surface. A pattern of protuberances on the inner surface of one of the first sidewall or the second sidewall defines a plurality of pathways having at least a first pathway and a second pathway intersecting one another. The protuberances facilitate evacuation of liquid when portions of the first sidewall and the second sidewall interlock during evacuation.

Abstract: A bearing structure which is cooperated with a shaft and is disposed in a bearing tube comprises an oil bearing and a cylindrical sealing member. The oil bearing has an axial hole. The shaft passes through the axial hole. The cylindrical sealing member covers a top surface and at least a portion of a sidewall of the oil bearing. The cylindrical sealing member has a through hole defined in its center. The shaft passes through the through hole.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to provide a hydrodynamic bearing type rotary device which can improve rotation performance, suppress a friction torque, and reduce power consumption of motor, and a recording and reproducing apparatus including the same. A shaft having a flange on one end and a hub on the other end is provided with a bearing of a sleeve so as to be rotatable. The sleeve includes a communication hole. A third gap between the hub and the sleeve end surface is a flow path, and is connected to the communication hole. Provided that a first gap between a thrust plate 4 and the flange 3 is S1, a second gap between the flange 3 and a lower end surface of the sleeve 1 is S2, and a third gap between the upper end surface of the sleeve 1 and the hub 7 is S3, widths of the gaps satisfy the relational expression, S3>(S1+S2).

Abstract: A bearing assembly includes a bearing housing which can be fixed directly to a foundation, guide elements which support a rotating shaft, and damping elements which support the guide elements against the housing. The damping elements are preferably located outside the housing, where they are supported by support elements passing through the housing and retained by covers attached to the housing.

Abstract: A lubricating-layer-equipped bearing enabling a reduction in the minimum bearing load required in the initial operation, and a method for easily forming a lubricating layer in the lubricating-layer-equipped bearing. The extension from an inscribed circle S in which rollers are inscribed to a minimum inner-periphery face lid of a retainer 11 is provided as a non-lubricating space without a lubricating layer G being provided. The lubricating layer is formed in the bearing by inserting the bearing having a retainer inserted in an outer ring, in a forming die 7; feeding a fluid-lubricant 9 including a thermoplastic resin into the forming die; reducing pressure in the forming die with the fluid lubricant fed to remove air bubbles from the fluid lubricant; pressing a cylindrical elastic solid 13 having an outer shape greater than the minimum inner-diameter S2 of the retainer, into an inscribed circle; and heating and setting the thermoplastic resin.

Abstract: The invention aims at increasing the critical speeds of rotation of an electrical machine while using standard components. Therefor, a shaft (11) is housed in the electrical machine by means of a fixed bearing (5, 6) and a free bearing (4). The fixed bearing is formed by two grooved ball bearings which are respectively prestressed in opposite directions by springs. Thus, at least one of the two grooved ball bearings is always prestressed independently of the axial force exerted on the shaft (11), such that the required radial stiffness of the fixed bearing is guaranteed.

Abstract: A roller bearing assembly for supporting a shaft axially and radially in a rack includes a roller bearing with a carrier, a portion of which is supported at the rack with an element with elastomeric properties being interposed between a support for the rack and the portion of the carrier. In order to indicate a roller bearing, which supports the shaft axially and radially, and makes an inclined position of the shaft possible without causing straining of the system of shaft, roller bearing and rack, the element with elastomeric properties, viewed in the tangential (circumferential) direction of the roller bearing, has at least a first region, the stiffness of which is different from that of the remaining tangential (circumferential) region.

Abstract: A shaft is supported in a housing on the front and rear antifriction bearings that are mounted in opposition. The front bearing has an outer race provided with an external thread that engages an internal thread within the housing. That outer race is fitted with a locking ring provided with an inner flange that is engaged to turn the race and thereby bring the front and rear bearings into the correct adjustment. The locking ring also has an axially directed outer flange that is segmented, so that one of the segments can be bent outwardly into a recess in the housing, thus providing a tab that prevents rotation of the locking ring and outer race.

Abstract: A motor vehicle wheel incorporates a wheel flange and a sleeve portion connected to each other. A rolling bearing has an outer race ring and an inner race ring. The sleeve portion has an axially projecting portion positioned between the wheel axle and the rolling bearing. Arranged between the bearing and the axially projecting portion are outer and inner sleeve members possessing surfaces that face one another, with the facing surfaces having ramps for increasing the external diameter of the combined inner and outer sleeve members when relatively axially displaced. During mounting, one of the inner and outer sleeve members follows axial displacement of the sleeve portion, while the other one of the inner and outer sleeve members is in contact with an axially deformable machine component that is elastically deformed during axial movement of the sleeve portion.

Abstract: A rolling bearing adapted to prevent crack formation in a caulking portion is provided. A rolling bearing assembly includes: a hub shaft having the caulking portion at an axial end thereof, the caulking portion bendably deformed in a radially outward direction; the rolling bearing mounted on an outside surface of the hub shaft; and an annular member spline-engaged with the hub shaft and caulk-fixed to place by the caulking portion. An inner-side axial end of a second male spline formed on the hub shaft is shifted from an inner-side end of the hub shaft toward an outer side far enough to ensure that the second male spline is not susceptible to the plastic deformation of the caulked caulking portion.

Abstract: In an optical modulator according to the present invention, a Mach-Zehnder optical waveguide is formed on a substrate having an electro-optic effect, a signal electrode and an earth electrode are disposed along a pair of branching waveguides of the optical waveguide, and an electric signal is applied on the signal electrode to thereby modulate a light being propagated through the optical waveguide. At this time, a first region and a second region are set in an interacting portion where the light and the electric signal interacts to each other, to form a polarization inversion region in each of the set regions, and also, an arrangement pattern of the signal electrode is determined so that a modulation direction in each of the set regions is opposite to each other. As a result, it is possible to realize the optical modulator of simple configuration capable of realizing simultaneously the broad modulation band and the wavelength chirping suppression.

Abstract: A photonic crystal may be configured to support a surface state for logic.

Abstract: A photonic crystal may be configured to support a surface state for logic.

Abstract: A plasma lamp for an electrodeless plasma lamp having a dielectric waveguide body and a bulb positioned, at least in part, in the waveguide body and having at least one end protruding from the waveguide body. A probe is used to couple power into the waveguide body. The power resonates in the waveguide body and ignites a plasma in the bulb. By having one or both ends of the bulb extend beyond the surface of the waveguide body, the ends of the bulb are exposed to reduced electric field intensity, resulting in longer bulb lifetime due to reduced plasma impingement on the interior surfaces of the bulb.

Abstract: A Mach-Zehnder type semiconductor device comprises electrodes for injecting carriers into first and second branch waveguides so as to change reflection indexes of the first and second branch waveguides. The device further includes electrodes which are placed above either one of the first or second branch waveguides or both of the first or second branch waveguides so as to remove the carriers. The Mach-Zehnder type semiconductor device can adjust a phase difference between first and second split lights transmitting through first and second branch waveguides, respectively, even if the lengths of the first and second branch waveguides are deviated from those designed values. The Mach-Zehnder type semiconductor device also can suppress optical loss of the first and second lights and generate an outgoing light without deterioration.

Abstract: An optocoupler, for converting optical signals into electrical signals and vice versa, includes a package with a jack connector for receiving an optical waveguide. On a lower side of the package, surface-mountable outer contacts are arranged on an interconnection film. A mounting position for semiconductor chips, including one optical semiconductor chip and one application-specific semiconductor chip, is provided in the package on the optical axis of the optical waveguide. The optical semiconductor chip is aligned with the optical axis inside the package. The outer contacts are arranged outside the package on the flexible interconnection film. Between the mounting position and the outer contacts, the interconnection film includes a curved region which is embedded in the package material such that the surface-mountable outer contacts on the lower side of the package are freely accessible.

Abstract: An optical switch with a compact form factor includes a multiple-fiber collimator and an angle tuning element for deflecting an optical beam from an input fiber into one of at least two output fibers. The angle tuning element may be provided between a pair of coaxially-aligned collimators, one of which is the multiple-fiber collimator. Alternatively, the angle tuning element may be provided between the multiple-fiber collimator and a reflective surface, so that only one collimator is required and the optical switch may be designed to have its input and output ports on the same side.

Abstract: A two-channel fiber optical rotary joint has been invented in which optical signals can be transmitted simultaneously along two optical passes through a single mechanical rotational interface for both single mode fiber and multi mode fiber. The first channel of light path consists of a pair of micro-collimators, or a pair of fibers, co-axially fixed in 2 holders respectively. The light signal from one of micro-collimator, or fiber can be directly coupled into another micro-collimator, or fiber. The second channel of light path is off-axis arranged, including a pair of conventional collimators, a pair of first reflecting surfaces and a pair of second reflecting surfaces. The light signal emitted from one of the said conventional collimator will be reflected by one of the said first reflecting surface, one of the said second reflecting surface, another said second reflecting surface, and another said first reflecting surface, then coupled into another said conventional collimator.

Abstract: There is provided a method and apparatus for optically filtering a communication signal. More specifically, in one embodiment, there is provided an apparatus comprising an optical filter having first and second input ports and first and second output ports, the optical filter being configured to transmit light in a target frequency range to the first output port in response to receiving light at the first input port and being configured to transmit light in the target frequency range to the second input port in response to receiving light at the second output port, and first and second photodiodes, the first diode being located to be illuminated by light from the first output port and the second photodiode being located to be illuminated by light from the second input port.

Abstract: A system to remove cladding light from an optical fiber that includes a core and a cladding that surrounds the core. A volume of an index-matching material contacts an exterior surface of the cladding along a contact length of the optical fiber. The index-matching material has a refractive index that substantially matches a refractive index of the cladding at a predetermined clamping temperature and has a refractive index with a negative temperature coefficient, such that the index matching material distributively removes light from the cladding along the contact length based on the temperature of the index matching material that contacts the cladding.

Abstract: An optical device containing a four-port optical mixer capable of distributing the optical power presented at either or both of two input ports to specified ratios in two output ports.

Abstract: Encircled far field energy is substantially increased by modifying the near field energy distribution of radiation from each fiber in an emitting array. Each beamlet output from a fiber is modified to have a generally uniform cross-sectional energy distribution, using a pair of aspheric optical elements selected for that purpose. The optical elements may be refractive or reflective. The modified beamlets combine to form a composite output beam with a generally uniform energy distribution. Preferably, the composite beam is subject to an array-wide inverse transformation to a near-Gaussian distribution, further enhancing the encircled far field energy and providing a more efficient high power laser source. Further gains in efficiency are achieved by selecting a fiber bundle pattern, lens array pattern and lens shape that together result in a high fill factor.