Embedding Color Watermark Image into Color Host Image Based on Contourlet-Domain

A novel image blind watermarking scheme based on Contourlet transform was proposed to embed color watermark image into color host image, which was different from some existing works using the binary or gray-level image as watermark. In the process of embedding watermark, each color component of the color host image was decomposed by Contourlet transform. Then, the low-pass sub-band coeffidents were divided to 4 x 4 non-overlapping blocks, and the eoeffidents in the selected block were quantified for embedding the watermark information. In the process of extraction watermark, the watermark could be extracted from the watermarked image without the help of the original host image or the original watermark image. Experimental results show that the proposed color image scheme has better invisibility and stronger robustness against most attacks such as image compression, filtering, adding noise, cropping, rotation, and scaling.

Fractional-order heterogeneous memristive Rulkov neuronal network and its medical image watermarking application

This article proposes a novel fractional heterogeneous neural network by coupling a Rulkov neuron with a Hopfield neural network(FRHNN),utilizing memristors for emulating neural synapses.The study firstly demonstrates the coexistence of multiple firing patterns through phase diagrams,Lyapunov exponents(LEs),and bifurcation diagrams.Secondly,the parameter related firing behaviors are described through two-parameter bifurcation diagrams.Subsequently,local attraction basins reveal multi-stability phenomena related to initial values.Moreover,the proposed model is implemented on a microcomputer-based ARM platform,and the experimental results correspond to the numerical simulations.Finally,the article explores the application of digital watermarking for medical images,illustrating its features of excellent imperceptibility,extensive key space,and robustness against attacks including noise and cropping.

Boosting image watermarking authenticity spreading secrecy from counting-based secret-sharing

This study presents enhancing images authentication by securing watermarking hidden data via shares generated from counting-based secret sharing.The trustfulness of shares utilised secret-sharing as an applicable privacy creation tool for the authentication of real-life complex platforms.This research adjusts embedding the watermarking data over the images by innovative redistribution of shares to be embedded spread over all the images.The anticipated watermarking technique guaranteed to scatter the share bits implanting at different least significant bits of image pixels as boosting up the trust overall authentication practicality.The paper experimentation performance analysis shows that this improved image watermarking authentication(capacity)is averagely better by 33%–67%than other related exclusive-OR oriented and octagon approaches.Interestingly,these measurement improvements did not degrade the robustness and security of the system,inspiring our research for opening novel track of related future counting-based secret-sharing authentication progresses to come.

Robust Image Watermarking Using LWT and Stochastic Gradient Firefly Algorithm

Watermarking of digital images is required in diversified applicationsranging from medical imaging to commercial images used over the web.Usually, the copyright information is embossed over the image in the form ofa logo at the corner or diagonal text in the background. However, this formof visible watermarking is not suitable for a large class of applications. In allsuch cases, a hidden watermark is embedded inside the original image as proofof ownership. A large number of techniques and algorithms are proposedby researchers for invisible watermarking. In this paper, we focus on issuesthat are critical for security aspects in the most common domains like digitalphotography copyrighting, online image stores, etc. The requirements of thisclass of application include robustness (resistance to attack), blindness (directextraction without original image), high embedding capacity, high Peak Signalto Noise Ratio (PSNR), and high Structural Similarity Matrix (SSIM). Mostof these requirements are conflicting, which means that an attempt to maximizeone requirement harms the other. In this paper, a blind type of imagewatermarking scheme is proposed using Lifting Wavelet Transform (LWT)as the baseline. Using this technique, custom binary watermarks in the formof a binary string can be embedded. Hu’s Invariant moments’ coefficientsare used as a key to extract the watermark. A Stochastic variant of theFirefly algorithm (FA) is used for the optimization of the technique. Undera prespecified size of embedding data, high PSNR and SSIM are obtainedusing the Stochastic Gradient variant of the Firefly technique. The simulationis done using Matrix Laboratory (MATLAB) tool and it is shown that theproposed technique outperforms the benchmark techniques of watermarkingconsidering PSNR and SSIM as quality metrics.

A Novel Color Image Watermarking Method with Adaptive Scaling Factor Using Similarity-Based Edge Region

This study aimed to deal with three challenges:robustness,imperceptibility,and capacity in the image watermarking field.To reach a high capacity,a novel similarity-based edge detection algorithm was developed that finds more edge points than traditional techniques.The colored watermark image was created by inserting a randomly generated message on the edge points detected by this algorithm.To ensure robustness and imperceptibility,watermark and cover images were combined in the high-frequency subbands using Discrete Wavelet Transform and Singular Value Decomposition.In the watermarking stage,the watermark image was weighted by the adaptive scaling factor calculated by the standard deviation of the similarity image.According to the results,the proposed edge-based color image watermarking technique has achieved high payload capacity,imperceptibility,and robustness to all attacks.In addition,the highest performance values were obtained against rotation attack,to which sufficient robustness has not been reached in the related studies.

Quantization-Based Robust Image Watermarking Using the Dual Tree Complex Wavelet Transform

Conventional quantization index modulation (QIM) watermarking uses the fixed quantization step size for the host signal.This scheme is not robust against geometric distortions and may lead to poor fidelity in some areas of content.Thus,we proposed a quantization-based image watermarking in the dual tree complex wavelet domain.We took advantages of the dual tree complex wavelets (perfect reconstruction,approximate shift invariance,and directional selectivity).For the case of watermark detecting,the probability of false alarm and probability of false negative were exploited and verified by simulation.Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method is robust against JPEG compression,additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN),and some kinds of geometric attacks such as scaling,rotation,etc.

A Feature-based Robust Digital Image Watermarking Against Desynchronization Attacks

In this paper, a new content-based image watermarking scheme is proposed. The Harris-Laplace detector is adopted to extract feature points, which can survive a variety of attacks. The local characteristic regions （LCRs） are adaptively constructed based on scale-space theory. Then, the LCRs are mapped to geometrically invariant space by using image normalization technique. Finally, several copies of the digital watermark are embedded into the nonoverlapped LCRs by quantizing the magnitude vectors of discrete Fourier transform （DFT） coefficients. By binding a watermark with LCR, resilience against desynchronization attacks can be readily obtained. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme is invisible and robust against various attacks which includes common signals processing and desynchronization attacks.

AN ADAPTIVE DIGITAL IMAGE WATERMARK ALGORITHM BASED ON GRAY-SCALE MORPHOLOGY

An adaptive digital image watermark algorithm with strong robustness based on gray-scale morphology is proposed in this paper.The embedded strategies include:The algorithm seeks and extracts adaptively the image strong texture regions.The algorithm maps the image strong texture region to the wavelet tree structures, and embeds adaptively watermark into the wavelet coefficients corresponding to the image's strong texture regions.According to the visual masking features, the algorithm adjusts adaptively the watermark-embedding intensity.Experimental results show the algorithm is robust to compression, filtering, noise as well as strong shear attacks.The algorithm is blind watermark scheme.The image strong texture region extraction method based on morphology in this algorithm is simple and effective and adaptive to various images.

Robust Image Watermarking Based on Generative Adversarial Network

Digital watermark embeds information bits into digital cover such as images and videos to prove the creator’s ownership of his work.In this paper,we propose a robust image watermark algorithm based on a generative adversarial network.This model includes two modules,generator and adversary.Generator is mainly used to generate images embedded with watermark,and decode the image damaged by noise to obtain the watermark.Adversary is used to discriminate whether the image is embedded with watermark and damage the image by noise.Based on the model Hidden(hiding data with deep networks),we add a high-pass filter in front of the discriminator,making the watermark tend to be embedded in the mid-frequency region of the image.Since the human visual system pays more attention to the central area of the image,we give a higher weight to the image center region,and a lower weight to the edge region when calculating the loss between cover and embedded image.The watermarked image obtained by this scheme has a better visual performance.Experimental results show that the proposed architecture is more robust against noise interference compared with the state-of-art schemes.

Difference Energy Based Blind Image Watermarking Resisting to Geometrical Distortions

In this paper a blind image watermarking that can resist to rotation, scaling and translation （RST） attacks is proposed. Based on the spread spectrum, the watermark is modulated before embedding. The logpolar mapped discrete fourier transform （LPM-DFT） magnitude of a disk, a part of the origin image, constitutes the RST-invariant domain, where the origin of the LPM is the center of the disk and the sampling rates of the LPM are constant. After the middle frequency band of LPM-DFT magnitude, namely the watermark-embedding domain, is grouped according to the watermark length, the watermark is embedded by adjusting the difference between the two sub-region energy in each group. To improve the imperceptibility, the watermark-embedding domain is shuffled before embedding and the watermark is not embedded directly into the watermark-embedding domain. In watermark detection procedure, neither the original image nor any knowledge about the distortions is required. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme is very robust against RST distortion and common image processing attacks.

New Optimal DWT Domain Image Watermarking Technique via Genetic Algorithm

A novel optimal image watermarking scheme is proposed in which the genetic algorithm (GA) is employed to obtain the improvement of algorithm performance. Arnold transform is utilized to obtain the scrambled watermark, and then the embedding and extraction of watermark are implemented in digital wavelet transform (DWT) domain. During the watermarking process, GA is employed to search optimal parameters of embedding strength and times of Arnold transform to gain the optimization of watermarking performance. Simulation results show that the proposed method can improve the quality of watermarked image and give almost the same robustness of the watermark.

Efficient gray-level digital image watermarking based on vector quantization

Digital watermarking has been presented as a new method for copyright protection by embedding a secret signal in a digital image or video sequence. Common digital image watermarking techniques are based on the concept of spread spectrum communications, which can be classified in two catalogues: spatial domain and transform domain based. Most of transform domain watermarking methods are based on discrete cosine transforms (DCT) and robust to JPEG lossy compression. Recently, digital image watermarking based on another important lossy compression technique, vector quantization (VQ), has been presented, which carries watermark information by codeword indices. It is secret and efficient, and is robust to VQ compression with the same codebook. However, the embedded information is less and the extraction process requires the original image. This paper presents a more efficient VQ based image watermarking method, which can embed a large gray level watermark into the original image with less extra distortion and perform the watermark extraction without the original image. In addition, the proposed watermarking algorithm is very secret because two keys are required for watermark extraction. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique.

Wavelet Transform Modulus Maxima-Based Robust Digital Image Watermarking in Wavelet Domain

A new robust watermarking approach was proposed in 2D continuous wavelet domain （CWT）. The watermark is embedded into the large coefficients in the middle band of wavelet transform modulus maxima （WTMM） of the host image. After possible attacks, the watermark is then detected and extracted by correlation analysis. Compared with other wavelet domain watermarking approaches, the WTMM approach can endow the image with beth rotation and shift invariant properties. On the other hand, scale invariance is achieved with the geometric normalization during watermark detection. Case studies involve various attacks such as shifting, lossy compression, scaling, rotation and median filtering on the watermarked image, and the result shows that the approach is robust to these attacks.

A Multi-Stage Security Solution for Medical Color Images in Healthcare Applications

This paper presents a robust multi-stage security solution based on fusion,encryption,and watermarking processes to transmit color healthcare images,efficiently.The presented solution depends on the features of discrete cosine transform(DCT),lifting wavelet transform(LWT),and singular value decomposition(SVD).The primary objective of this proposed solution is to ensure robustness for the color medical watermarked images against transmission attacks.During watermark embedding,the host color medical image is transformed into four sub-bands by employing three stages of LWT.The resulting low-frequency sub-band is then transformed by employing three stages of DCT followed by SVD operation.Furthermore,a fusion process is used for combining different watermarks into a single watermark image.This single fused image is then ciphered using Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid(DNA)encryption to strengthen the security.Then,the DNA-ciphered fused watermark is embedded in the host medical image by applying the suggested watermarking technique to obtain the watermarked image.The main contribution of this work is embedding multiple watermarks to prevent identity theft.In the presence of different multimedia attacks,several simulation tests on different colormedical images have been performed.The results prove that the proposed security solution achieves a decent imperceptibility quality with high Peak Signal-to-Noise Ratio(PSNR)values and high correlation between the extracted and original watermark images.Moreover,the watermark image extraction process succeeds in achieving high efficiency in the presence of attacks compared with related works.

A Triple-Channel Encrypted Hybrid Fusion Technique to Improve Security of Medical Images

Assuring medical images protection and robustness is a compulsory necessity nowadays.In this paper,a novel technique is proposed that fuses the wavelet-induced multi-resolution decomposition of the Discrete Wavelet Transform(DWT)with the energy compaction of the Discrete Wavelet Transform(DCT).The multi-level Encryption-based Hybrid Fusion Technique(EbhFT)aims to achieve great advances in terms of imperceptibility and security of medical images.A DWT disintegrated sub-band of a cover image is reformed simultaneously using the DCT transform.Afterwards,a 64-bit hex key is employed to encrypt the host image as well as participate in the second key creation process to encode the watermark.Lastly,a PN-sequence key is formed along with a supplementary key in the third layer of the EbHFT.Thus,the watermarked image is generated by enclosing both keys into DWT and DCT coefficients.The fusions ability of the proposed EbHFT technique makes the best use of the distinct privileges of using both DWT and DCT methods.In order to validate the proposed technique,a standard dataset of medical images is used.Simulation results show higher performance of the visual quality(i.e.,57.65)for the watermarked forms of all types of medical images.In addition,EbHFT robustness outperforms an existing scheme tested for the same dataset in terms of Normalized Correlation(NC).Finally,extra protection for digital images from against illegal replicating and unapproved tampering using the proposed technique.

Robust Deep Image Watermarking:A Survey

In the era of internet proliferation,safeguarding digital media copyright and integrity,especially for images,is imperative.Digital watermarking stands out as a pivotal solution for image security.With the advent of deep learning,watermarking has seen significant advancements.Our review focuses on the innovative deep watermarking approaches that employ neural networks to identify robust embedding spaces,resilient to various attacks.These methods,characterized by a streamlined encoder-decoder architecture,have shown enhanced performance through the incorporation of novel training modules.This article offers an in-depth analysis of deep watermarking’s core technologies,current status,and prospective trajectories,evaluating recent scholarly contributions across diverse frameworks.It concludes with an overview of the technical hurdles and prospects,providing essential insights for ongoing and future research endeavors in digital image watermarking.

Quantum watermarking based on threshold segmentation using quantum informational entropy

We propose a new quantum watermarking scheme based on threshold selection using informational entropy of quantum image.The core idea of this scheme is to embed information into object and background of cover image in different ways.First,a threshold method adopting the quantum informational entropy is employed to determine a threshold value.The threshold value can then be further used for segmenting the cover image to a binary image,which is an authentication key for embedding and extraction information.By a careful analysis of the quantum circuits of the scheme,that is,translating into the basic gate sequences which show the low complexity of the scheme.One of the simulation-based experimental results is entropy difference which measures the similarity of two images by calculating the difference in quantum image informational entropy between watermarked image and cover image.Furthermore,the analyses of peak signal-to-noise ratio,histogram and capacity of the scheme are also provided.

Rotation,scaling and translation invariant image watermarking using feature points

In this article, a novel robust image watermarking scheme is presented to resist rotation, scaling, and translation （RST）. Initially, the original image is scale normalized, and the feature points are then extracted. Furthermore, the locally most stable feature points are used to generate several nonoverlapped circular regions. These regions are then rotation normalized to generate the invariant regions. Watermark embedding and extraction are implemented in the invariant regions in discrete cosine transform domain. In the decoder, the watermark can be extracted without the original image. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme is robust to traditional signal processing attacks, RST attacks, as well as some combined attacks.

Geometric attack resistant image watermarking based on MSER

Geometric distortions are simple and effective at- tacks rendering many watermarking methods useless. They make detection and extraction of the embedded watermark difficult or even impossible by destroying the synchroniza- tion between the watermark reader and the embedded water- mark. In this paper, we propose a blind content-based image watermarking scheme against geometric distortions. Firstly, the MSER detector is adopted to extract a set of maximally stable extremal regions which are affine covariant and robust to geometric distortions and common signal processing. Sec- ondly, every original MSER is fitted into an elliptical region that was proved to be affine invariant. In order to achieve rota- tion invariance, an image normalization process is performed to transform the elliptical regions into circular ones. Finally, watermarks are repeatedly embedded into every circular disk by modifying the wavelet transform coefficients. Experimen- tal results on standard benchmark demonstrate that the pro- posed scheme is robust to geometric distortions as well as common signal processing.

A robust color image watermarking algorithm against rotation attacks

A robust digital watermarking algorithm is proposed based on quaternion wavelet transform(QWT) and discrete cosine transform(DCT) for copyright protection of color images. The luminance component Y of a host color image in YIQ space is decomposed by QWT, and then the coefficients of four low-frequency subbands are transformed by DCT. An original binary watermark scrambled by Arnold map and iterated sine chaotic system is embedded into the mid-frequency DCT coefficients of the subbands. In order to improve the performance of the proposed algorithm against rotation attacks, a rotation detection scheme is implemented before watermark extracting. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed watermarking scheme shows strong robustness not only against common image processing attacks but also against arbitrary rotation attacks.