Lossless data hiding for absolute moment block truncation coding using histogram modification

This paper presents a lossless data hiding method for an absolute moment block truncation coding (AMBTC) images, which is a compressed grayscale image. It is not easy to hide secret data in an AMBTC-compressed image because it is composed of bit planes. Thus, it is very sensitive to change some pixels. Nevertheless, to improve the hiding capacity, we present an efficient extension of the histogram modification technique by counting the coefficients of the bit planes in each 4 × 4 block. In addition, our proposed scheme has low complexity and achieves a high embedding capacity with the good perceptual quality compared to the prior arts. In an experiment, we verified our proposed data hiding scheme through the comparison with previous methods.     

Hybrid secret hiding schemes based on absolute moment block truncation coding

This paper presents two secret hiding schemes based on absolute moment block truncation coding (AMBTC). One is for embedding secrets into complex blocks and the other one is for smooth blocks. As for the smooth blocks, the small variation of the block is adopted to define the embedding rule to minimize the distortion after data embedding. As for the complex blocks, the large variation of the block is used to embed more secrets while maintaining good visual quality. In the experiments, when compared to Ou and Sun’s scheme, the positive data is to confirm the higher capacity while preserving better visual quality.     

Huffman-code strategies to improve MFCVQ-based reversible data hiding for VQ indexes

Data hiding, which embeds secret data into cover media, is one type of technology used to achieve the multimedia security. A reversible data hiding method has the characteristic that the cover media can be completely reconstructed after secret data are extracted. Recently, some reversible data hiding schemes have focused on the vector quantization (VQ)-compressed format. Using the modified fast correlation vector quantization (MFCVQ) concept, Lu et al. proposed a reversible data hiding scheme for VQ-index tables. In this paper, a new MFCVQ-based scheme is proposed. Specifically, our method will enlarge the embedding capacities by embedding multiple bits into a VQ index, thereby reducing the compressed bit rates by applying the Huffman-code concept and the 0-centered classification. Experimental results indicate that this method has greater pure embedding capacities and fewer compressed bit rates than that of previous MFCVQ-based methods.     

Hiding secret data in images via predictive coding

This paper presents a prediction-based image-hiding scheme that embeds secret data into compression codes during image compression. This scheme employs a two-stage structure: a prediction stage and an entropy coding stage. The secret data is embedded into the difference values of a given image after the prediction stage is performed.According to the experimental results, the image quality is better than Jpeg-Jsteg and its improved scheme (Inform. Sci. 141 (1-2) (2002) 123). The average image quality of the stego-images in the proposed scheme is greater than 50 dB when the hiding capacity is 1 bit per pixel, whereas those values in Jpeg-Jsteg and scheme in Chang et al. (Inform. Sci. 141 (1-2) (2002) 123) are 37.04 and 33.73 dB, respectively. The hiding capacity of the proposed scheme is 65,536 bits when the hiding capacity is 1 bit per pixel, whereas it is 53,248 bits in scheme (Inform. Sci. 141 (1-2) (2002) 123) and less than 3000 bits in Jpeg-Jsteg.     

Data hiding based on compressed VQ indices of images

The VQ-based data hiding technique has not received much attention compared to various spatial domain-based data hiding techniques in digital images. Consequently, a new data hiding scheme, applied in the VQ-compressed domain of cover images, is introduced in this article. To provide more hiding capacity for secret data and to keep an acceptable bit rate for the compressed cover images, the search-order-coding (SOC) algorithm was implemented to compress the VQ indices of the cover images in the process of data hiding. During the process of data hiding, the proposed scheme embeds secret data into the compressed VQ indices of the cover image adaptively, adjusting the bit rate according to the size of the secret data and the compressed cover image. In addition, the hiding process induces no extra coding distortion. Experiments show that the receiver can efficiently receive both the secret data and the compressed cover image simultaneously with an acceptable bit rate. Simulation results also demonstrate that our proposed scheme outperforms earlier proposed methods.     

Extended squared magic matrix for embedding secret information with large payload

Data hiding is a technology designed for safely transmitting secret data through open communication channels, in which the secret data are embedded into a cover carrier imperceptibly. Among the existing data hiding schemes, the exploiting-modification-direction (EMD) based schemes draw considerable attentions due to large embedding capacity. The proposed scheme improves the EMD-2 scheme by constructing an extended squared magic matrix, resulting in a larger embedding capacity high up to 3.15 bits per pixel (bpp). Experimental results show that the proposed scheme outperforms state-of-the-art reference matrix based schemes in terms of embedding capacity, meanwhile, maintains good image quality.

     

Adaptive lossless steganographic scheme with centralized difference expansion

In this paper, a novel adaptive lossless data hiding scheme is presented that is capable of offering greater embedding capacity than the existing schemes. Unlike the fixed hiding capacity each block provides in most of the currently available lossless data hiding approaches, the proposed method utilizes a block-based lossless data embedding algorithm where the quantity of the hidden information each block bears is variable. To both reduce the image distortion and increase the hiding capacity, the payload of each block depends on its cover image complexity. Due to the fact that schemes with difference expansion tend to damage the image quality seriously in the edge areas, in the proposed scheme, smoother areas are chosen to conceal more secret bits. This way, a better balance can be reached between the embedding ratio and the stego-image quality. In addition, when recovered the cover image can came back to its old self to the last bit without any distortion at all. Experimental results, as this paper will show, have demonstrated that the proposed method is capable of hiding more secret data while maintaining imperceptible stego-image quality degradation.     

彩色图像信息密写新方法

为实现彩色图像中的安全隐写,首先通过混沌映射算法将图像去相关处理,再经过离散正弦变换, 提出以彩色图像为载体的安全隐写方法,应用二值图像信息嵌入技术,将隐蔽信息隐藏在颜色分量的较高层位面中,可实现优良的隐蔽性和较大的嵌入量。所使用的二值图像数据隐藏方案包括一组完备的规则,能够准确判断边缘像素是否可承载嵌入数据,保证嵌入数据的无差错盲提取,并可引入密钥以增强安全性。实验表明,在彩色图像中数据嵌入量达到每像素1.5 b时视觉不可察觉,峰值信噪比保持在40 dB以上,直方图无异常,并能抵御多种有效的隐写分析算法,兼顾了隐蔽信息容量和安全性。同时,解决了含密图像进行压缩或作任何有损的格式变换、数据嵌入、信息提取、抵御隐写分析算法难题。     

A high-capacity reversible data hiding scheme based on sorting and prediction in digital images

In this paper, a new reversible data hiding method based on sorting and prediction in digital images is proposed. The proposed method can embed two bits in the 3 × 1 sub-block at maximum by dividing into two groups - min and max groups. The pixel pairs of the min group and max group are firstly predicted and then are modified to embed the secret bits. The reversibility is guaranteed since the order of pixel pairs of the sub-block is not changed after embedding a secret bit into two groups. The experimental results show that the proposed method provides high embedding capacity than the previous works.     

An encoding method for both image compression and data lossless information hiding

Reversible image data hiding technology means the cover image can be totally recovered after the embedded secret data is extracted. In this paper, we propose a reversible image data hiding scheme based on vector quantization (VQ) compressed images. The secret bits are embedded into the VQ index table by modifying the index value according to the difference of neighboring indices. The data hiding capacity and the size of the final codestream (embedded result) are a trade-off, and it can be decided by users. In other words, the proposed scheme has flexible hiding capacity ability. To estimate the performance, the proposed scheme was compared with the scheme proposed by Wang and Lu (2009). The results of the comparison showed that our proposed scheme is superior to the scheme proposed by Wang and Lu in both data hiding capacity and bit rate.     

A high-capacity performance-preserving blind technique for reversible information hiding via MIDI files using delta times

A new high-capacity information hiding method for embedding secret messages into MIDI files is proposed. The method can preserve the original musical performance of the cover MIDI file. The property of the variable-length quantity, which expresses the magnitude of the delta time before every event in a MIDI file, is utilized for secret bit embedding. The embedding is accomplished by padding the delta times with different numbers of leading constant bytes of 80₁₆ to represent the secret bits. The method is both reversible and blind because the original cover MIDI file can be restored completely from the stego-MIDI file by extracting the embedded data out from the resulting stego-MIDI file without referencing the original cover MIDI file. A capability of hiding a large amount of secret information is achieved since the delta time is a basic parameter that appears before every event in the MIDI file. Good experimental results yielded by the proposed method as well as a comparison of the method with five existing performance-preserving methods from the viewpoints of stego-file quality, payload capacity, and data security show the superiority and feasibility of the proposed method.

     

High-capacity image hiding scheme based on vector quantization

A novel grayscale image hiding scheme that is capable of hiding multiple secret images into a host image of the same size is proposed in this paper. The secret images to be hidden are first compressed by vector quantization with additional index compression process. Then, the compressed secret images are encrypted and embedded into the least-significant bits of the host pixels. To provide good image quality of the stego-image, the modulus function and the image property are employed to hide the secret bits into the host pixels and determine the number of hidden bits in each host pixel, respectively. According to the results, the proposed scheme provides a higher hiding capacity and a higher degree of security than that of the virtual image cryptosystem.     

An optimal high capacity reversible data hiding scheme using move to front coding for LZW codes

Reversible Data hiding techniques reduce transmission cost as secret data is embedded into a cover image without increasing its size in such a way that at the receiving end, both secret data and the cover image can be extracted and recovered, respectively, to their original form. To further reduce the transmission cost, the secret data can be embedded in the compression codes by some popular reversible data hiding schemes. One of the popular and important reversible data hiding method is high- performance data-hiding Lempel–Ziv–Welch (HPDH-LZW) scheme which hides the secret data in LZW codes. In this paper, the HPDH-LZW scheme is modified in order to increase its hiding capacity and compression ratio. First, the proposed work modifies the Move to Front (MTF) encoding technique to hide the secret data and also to increase the similarity among the element of the cover media. Then, LZW encoding technique is applied on the resultant cover data to obtain LZW codes, which are used to hide further secret data. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme has significantly increased the data hiding capacity and have good embedding and extraction speed in comparison to other state of the art schemes.

     

Quadruple Difference Expansion-Based Reversible Data Hiding Method for Digital Images

ABSTRACT

Lossless data hiding is a special type of data hiding technique that guarantees not only the secret data but also the ability of cover media to be reconstructed without any distortion. A latest lossless data hiding technique is proposed by Hong Lin Jin's that is based on hiding only one data bit in the spatial domain in gray-level image. However, this method uses double difference expansion to embed bits which results in a small embedding capacity. For this purpose, we propose an improved algorithm with the potential of increasing the payload capacity and maintaining good image quality. The proposed improved algorithm is characterized by two aspects. First, the proposed improved reversible data hiding scheme is enhanced to exhibit data hiding in color palette images. Second, the embedding level is improved by using quadruple difference expansion to guarantee the embedding of 2-bit data into color images. Experiments of the proposed improved method have been conducted over several well-known test images. The results show that the proposed improved method significantly improves the embedding capacity over Hong Lin Jin's scheme by the range of 15–35% for grayscale images and 20–46% for color images while still maintaining the quality of the stego-images.     

一种基于LSB的数字图像信息隐藏算法

根据载体图像和嵌入量的大小,利用随机函数确定出嵌入字节的位置,使嵌入信息分布均匀;研究了异或运算的性质,结合位平面的特点,通过位的异或运算,实现秘密信息嵌入;对嵌入的字节最多只需修改一位,可在该字节中同时嵌入两位秘密信息,提高了秘密信息嵌入量,并能无损还原.理论分析和实验结果证明了算法的有效性.     

Adaptive and dynamic multi-grouping scheme for absolute moment block truncation coding

Image compression technique is widely used in multimedia signal processing. As a conventional lossy compression technique, block truncation coding (BTC) deserves further improvements to enhance its performance of compression. The improvements of BTC mainly focus on: 1) enhancing the quality of reconstructed image and 2) decreasing the bit rate. In this paper, an adaptive and dynamic multi-grouping scheme is proposed for the absolute moment block truncation coding (AMBTC), which is mainly based on an optimized grouping mechanism with the adaptive threshold setting according to the complexity of image blocks. Besides, the values of the reconstruction levels are replaced by their compressed difference values in order to decrease the bit rate. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can enhance the compression performance of AMBTC effectively.

     

安全的MPEG压缩视频数字隐写算法

视频数字隐写具有隐藏容量大的优点,但是通常在获得隐藏容量的间时,却忽视了安全性.为了在二者之间取得平衡,利用纠错码信息隐藏的原理,提出了一种以压缩视频为载体的数字隐写算法.该算法在进行秘密信息嵌入时,采用了二次嵌入的策略,即首先将秘密信息嵌入到纠错码码字,然后将得到的载密纠错码码字嵌入到与不采用差分编码的系数相对应的行程幅度对的幅度值,同时采用比特率控制策略来减小信息嵌入前后的视频流长度变化.实验及分析表明,该算法的隐写结果不仅具有较好的视觉和统计上的不可感知性,而且满足密码学中的"Kerchhoff准则".此外,该算法在确保一定的嵌入容量的情况下,能够使视频流长度在信息嵌入前后保持近似不变.     

基于码分多址复用的双重加密可逆信息隐藏

针对多数密文域可逆信息隐藏算法嵌入容量小、加密算法单一的问题,提出一种双重加密的方法,并利用码分多址复用（CDMA）的思想嵌入秘密信息。加密时将图像分块,先对像素块进行多粒度置乱加密,再对块中每个像素的中间2位用流密码加密。信息嵌入采用码分多址的思想,选取k个长为4的相互正交的矩阵嵌入k层秘密信息,利用矩阵的正交性实现秘密信息多层嵌入,在提高嵌入容量的同时保证了对像素点的较小改变。对不满足嵌入条件的像素块嵌入伪比特,可避免使用位置图。拥有信息提取密钥的合法接收者可以提取秘密信息;拥有图像解密密钥可以近似恢复原始图像;拥有两种密钥既可提取秘密信息又可无损恢复原始图像。实验结果表明,512×512灰度图像Lena在峰值信噪比（PSNR）大于36 dB时最大嵌入容量133 313 bit。所提算法增强了加密图像安全性,在保证可逆性的同时大大提高密文域可逆信息隐藏嵌入容量。     

基于直方图移位的AMBTC域无损信息隐藏

针对秘密信息的安全传输,提出了一种信息隐藏算法,将混沌置乱变换及行程压缩编码同时应用于秘密信息预处理,旨在改善隐藏载体的嵌入容量和鲁棒。该算法将直方图移位技术应用于信息嵌入过程,在绝对矩阵块截断编码（AMBTC）生成的高低平均值序列上隐藏预处理后的秘密信息,实现了载体的无损隐藏并提升了嵌入容量,且嵌入容量高于直接在由AMBTC生成的高低平均值序列上进行隐藏的算法。实验结果表明,在受到某些攻击后仍保证提取出的秘密信息具有较高的可辨识度,归一化系数始终高于0.6,证明了该算法在鲁棒性和隐藏效率方面的优势。因此,提出的信息隐藏方法能达到秘密信息安全传输的目的,同时具有很好的抗攻击性。     

Adaptive data hiding for vector quantization images based on overlapping codeword clustering

In this paper, an overlapping codeword clustering based data hiding scheme is presented. In this scheme, a mapping table is designed to determine the overlapping codeword clustering and to indicate the index modification in the secret embedding. The mapping table explores the relationship among the sub-codebook’s size, the codeword’s order and the embedding secret message to which the codeword overlapping in sub-codebooks with different sizes is permitted. In addition, the secret embedding is also determined according to the mapping table.The experimental results showed that the number of partitioned sub-codebooks was increased significantly. The average hiding capacity was about 30 K bits while the average embedding distortion was about 1.2 dB. In comparison to similar methods, the proposed scheme provided a larger hiding capacity than others while preserving a similar stego-image quality. Furthermore, the proposed scheme offered a better proportion of hiding compared to image distortion.