Spatial-Perceptual Embedding with Robust Just Noticeable Difference Model for Color Image Watermarking

Both watermark structure and embedding strategy affect robustness of image watermarks. Where should watermarks be embedded in the discrete cosine transform (DCT) domain in order for the invisible image watermarks to be robust? Though many papers in the literature agree that watermarks should be embedded in perceptually significant components, dc components are explicitly excluded from watermark embedding. In this letter, a new embedding strategy for watermarking is proposed based on a quantitative analysis on the magnitudes of DCT components of host images. We argue that more robustness can be achieved if watermarks are embedded in dc components since dc components have much larger perceptual capacity than any ac components. Based on this idea, an adaptive watermarking algorithm is presented. We incorporate the feature of texture masking and luminance masking of the human visual system into watermarking. Experimental results demonstrate that the invisible watermarks embedded with the proposed watermark algorithm are very robust.

This study presents a rate-distortion (RD) optimised quantisation algorithm for direct current (DC) coefficients of the Wyner–Ziv (WZ) frames in unidirectional distributed video coding. As the side information (SI) could be viewed as a ‘corrupted’ version of the original WZ frame, the correlation noise (WZ-SI) can be interpreted as a virtual channel with an error pattern. In this study, the distortion caused by virtual channel errors, besides quantisation errors, is analysed emphatically for unidirectional WZ video coding. In their presented quantisation algorithm, a novel RD model is developed to find out the optimal quantisation step size, in which the quantisation distortion and virtual channel error distortion together with the encoding rate are formulated using the quantisation step size without feedback channels. Then the RD optimal step size for DC coefficients can be solved through minimising the RD cost. In simulations, the comparison of RD performance between their proposed algorithm and the quantisation method used in distributed coding for video services (DISCOVER) is presented. Experimental results show that the proposed RD optimised quantisation for DC coefficients can improve the average peak signal-to-noise ratio of WZ frames by 0.4–1.2 dB for quarter common intermediate format (QCIF) sequences and 0.2–0.4 dB for common intermediate format (CIF), at the expense of increasing the encoding complexity slightly.

With the rapid access convenience of content brought by 5G technology, the integrity protection of content becomes more important. The reversible visible watermarking algorithm has attracted more attention due to its effective content protection. In this paper, a novel improved reversible visible image watermarking scheme based on gradient-weighted class activation mapping (Grad-CAM) and the just noticeable difference (JND) model has been presented. The proposed region of interest (ROI) selection strategy is used to locate the main protected body of images for watermark embedding. Divide the watermark and ROI into nonoverlapping blocks in the same way and then embed the classified two types of watermark blocks into corresponding ROI blocks with the JND model. The optimal bit positions for watermark embedding can be selected adaptively with JND threshold and achieve the tradeoff between the watermark visibility and watermarked image quality. For lossless image recovery and watermark extraction, the recovery information is reversibly hidden into watermarked image. In the experiments, the same process of grayscale images is used to each channel separately for color images watermarking. Besides, there are six aspects in this paper to estimate the proposed scheme; with the comparison to other reversible visible watermarking schemes, experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed scheme.

Security and authentication of the people information is effectively provided through various watermarking algorithms. Most of the conventional watermarking algorithms have their own drawbacks in maintaining the quality and security of the image against various attacks. In order to overcome the above stated issues, a watermarking technique based on optimization is required for preserving image quality. In this paper, singular value decomposition (SVD) based digital image watermarking (DIW) scheme is proposed in hybrid discrete cosine transform (DCT) and discrete wavelet transform (DWT) using optimization algorithms like particle swarm optimization (PSO) and Jaya algorithm. The watermark image (WI) is embedded into low frequency DWT sub-band of DCT of cover image. PSO and Jaya algorithms are applied to improve the security threats and quality by assessing the fitness function. The work involves in utilizing the feature points in embedding of watermarks and analyzing the impact of various types of attacks with respect to image quality. The performance parameters like peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR), Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) and correlation coefficient of fitness function given by PSO and Jaya algorithm.

A New Stereo Image Watermarking Method for 3D Media

This paper presents a new robust hybrid multiple watermarking technique using fusion of discrete wavelet transforms (DWT), discrete cosine transforms (DCT), and singular value decomposition (SVD) instead of applying DWT, DCT and SVD individually or combination of DWT-SVD / DCT-SVD. For identity authentication purposes, multiple watermarks are embedded into the same medical image / multimedia objects simultaneously, which provides extra level of security with acceptable performance in terms of robustness and imperceptibility. In the embedding process, the cover image is decomposed into first level discrete wavelet transforms where the A (approximation/lower frequency sub-band) is transformed by DCT and SVD. The watermark image is also transformed by DWT, DCT and SVD. The S vector of watermark information is embedded in the S component of the cover image. The watermarked image is generated by inverse SVD on modified S vector and original U, V vectors followed by inverse DCT and inverse DWT. The watermark is extracted using an extraction algorithm. Furthermore, the text watermark is embedding at the second level of the D (diagonal sub-band) of the cover image. The security of the text watermark considered as EPR (Electronic Patient Record) data is enhanced by using encryption method before embedding into the cover. The results are obtained by varying the gain factor, size of the text watermark, and cover medical images. The method has been extensively tested and analyzed against known attacks and is found to be giving superior performance for robustness, capacity and reduced storage and bandwidth requirements compared to reported techniques suggested by other authors.

Medical images stored in a hospital system are generally confidential and integrated and require strict security. However, medical information stored on digital medical imaging systems, as well as picture archiving and communication systems (PACS), are vulnerable to attack when the data are transferred over wireless or wired communication networks. To solve this problem, a watermarking algorithm for medical images is proposed using a bit threshold map based on just noticeable distortion (JND) in the discrete cosine transform (DCT) method. The low-frequency component comprises a considerable amount of the signal energy for most images. As a result, it has a crucial effect on the image quality. Therefore, in this paper, the proposed algorithm embeds watermarks based on the low-frequency components of the image, such as the DC coefficient of the DCT. When watermarks are embedded in a low frequency area, the subjective image quality is often degraded. To compensate for the degradation of the imperceptibility of the watermarking system, which results from embedding watermarks in the low-frequency component, this research considers the human visual system. In addition, the embedding strength of the JND value is used to improve the watermarking imperceptibility. We applied the proposed watermarking algorithm to a variety of medical images using a computer simulation. The algorithm's performance was verified using a variety of attacks for eliminating watermarks. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm robustly provides protection against a variety of possible attacks.

With the growth of multimedia systems in distributed environments, the research of multimedia security as well as multimedia copyright protection becomes an important issue. As a potential and effective way to solve this problem, digital watermarking becomes a very active research area of signal and information processing. Many watermark algorithms have been proposed to address this issue of ownership identification. Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) based spread-spectrum watermarking is one of the famous techniques. Another possible domain for watermark embedding is the wavelet domain. One of the many advantages over the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) is that more accurately model aspects of the human visual system (HVS). In this paper a proposed algorithm is defined based on the combination between the benefits provides by using wavelet domain and profits of Code division multiple access (CDMA) spread-spectrum technique. A pseudo-random sequence (key) that related to hidden message is embedded into the significant DWT coefficients of a cover image to produce a watermarked image. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is perceptual invisible and robust against many attacks such as lossy image compression and Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN). Keywords: digital watermark, wavelet transform, CDMA technique.

There is a huge resource of data available on the internet which one can access without realizing that the person is even authorized to access it or not. The hard work of the original resource person can easily be compromised. Digital watermarking is an answer to overcome this issue. This paper introduces a hybrid of LSB and DCT techniques, LSB(Least Significant Bit) and DCT(Discrete Cosine Transformation). The paper studies the two techniques along with the proposed technique and a comparison is drawn between the three based on MSE and PSNR values obtained. The introduced hybrid technique performs better in comparison to DCT and LSB. The MSE calculated was 64% better than LSB and 60% better than DCT resultantly PSNR is also observed to be better than LSB and DCT.

In this paper, we propose a new digital watermarking algorithm named spatial unified key insertion (SUKI) for few-color images. By performing the adaptive threshold halftoning and contour shaping and modification, we can embed a binary logo into a digital image with superior JPEG compression resistance ability. The bit error rate (BER) of JPEG attack is equal to zero for all testing images with quality factor≥80. The BER is much lower than the traditional watermarking algorithms, such as spread spectrum watermarking and quantization index modulation watermarking. The payload is considerably high and there are no "salt-and-peppers" artifacts in the watermarked images. No additional color is introduced and the palette keeps unchanged after watermark embedding. The proposed algorithm can be applied to natural images with distinct boundaries by segmenting the images into different parts.

Towards perceptual image watermarking with robust texture measurement

워터마킹은 소유권을 주장하기 위하여 워터마크라는 디지털 신호를 영상에 첨가하는 것이다. 본 논문에서는 기존의 DCT를 이용한 디지털 워터마킹 방법을 개선하여 비가시성과 견고성을 동시에 향상시키는 새로운 DCT 기반의 디지털 워터마킹 방법을 제안한다. 제안한 방법에서는 원 DCT 계수의 상대적 중요성이 워터마킹된 DCT 계수에서도 보존되며, 원 DCT 계수의 왜곡을 최소화시키는 워터마크 재정렬 방법을 이용함으로서 비가시성과 견고성을 향상시킨다. 실험을 통하여 제안한 방법은 기존의 워터마킹 방법보다 비가시성을 약 9～12[dB] 향상시키며, 다양한 공격에 대해 견고성이 월등히 우수함을 확인하였다. Watermarking is embedding a digital signal called as watermark into images to claim the ownership. In this paper, a new digital watermarking algorithm based on DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) which enhances invisibility and robustness is proposed to improve contentional digital watermarking method using DCT. In the proposed method, it is possible to enhance invisibility and robustness using watermark reordering in which the relative significance of original DCT coefficients can be preserved in watermarked DCT coefficients, and the distortions of original DCT coefficients can be minimized. The experimental results show that the proposed method improves invisibility approximately 9～12[dB] and is more robust to various attacks than the conventional method.

This paper concerns the digital watermarking technology on three different processing stages in order to enhance the robustness of digital watermarking under the premise of invisibility. (1) The first stage is watermark signal pre-processing. The watermark signal created using binary gray images is taken the highly nonlinear processing by the chaotic function first and then by the neural network, which enhances the degree of watermark confidentiality greatly, (2) The second stage is watermark embedding strength degree. First a neural network is constructed and trained. The trained neural network can be used in watermark embedding and extraction by which a watermark algorithm can be achieved to do blind detection, (3) The third stage is watermark embedding and extraction. The treated watermark signal is embedded into the airspace of the original image through the trained neural network. And the neural network is also used to extract and detect the watermark. Proved by experimental results, this algorithm has good robustness.

Watermarking is a technique for labeling digital pictures by hiding secret information into images. Watermark embedding is a method to discourage unauthorized copying and identify the owner or distributor of digital data. In this paper, a new method is proposed. The watermark is processed as a visually recognizable pattern—binary image, which includes more information than the traditional symbol or ID number and is “extracted” instead of only “detected” to characterize the owner. The watermark is hidden in the host image by selectively modifying the middle-frequency part of the host image in conjunction with the human visual system(HVS) and the image discrete cosine transform(DCT). The experimental results show that this method can survive image cropping and image compression, and get better results, this is also a prospective method.

A novel block-level perceptual image watermarking framework is proposed in this study, including tri-directional correlation and a block-level just noticeable difference (JND) model. Specifically, the difference in the discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients of two blocks is calculated based on three directions in the neighborhood, called the tri-directional correlation (TriDC). Additionally, the representative alternating current (AC) coefficients along horizontal, vertical, and diagonal directions, which can describe structural patterns, are projected and merged for TriDC differences. Then, the difference of the DCT coefficient is modulated to a predefined zone depending on the JND-based offset. Finally, the extent of the watermarked AC coefficients is determined with perceptual JND adjustment. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can protect most common image processing attacks; and has better robustness compared with recent zone modulation watermarking schemes and traditional watermarking methods.