Reversible data hiding for high quality images using modification of prediction errors

In this paper, a reversible data hiding scheme based on modification of prediction errors (MPE) is proposed. For the existing histogram-shifting based reversible data hiding techniques, though the distortion caused by embedding is low, the embedding capacity is limited by the frequency of the most frequent pixel. To remedy this problem, the proposed method modifies the histogram of prediction errors to prepare vacant positions for data embedding. The PSNR of the stego image produced by MPE is guaranteed to be above 48 dB, while the embedding capacity is, on average, almost five times higher than that of the well-known Ni et al. techniques with the same PSNR. Besides, MPE not only has the capability to control the capacity-PSNR, where fewer data bits need less error modification, but also can be applied to images with flat histogram. Experimental results indicate that MPE, which innovatively exploits the modification of prediction errors, outperforms the prior works not only in terms of larger payload, but also in terms of stego image quality.     

Reversible watermarking method based on asymmetric-histogram shifting of prediction errors

This paper tries to provide a new perspective for the research of reversible watermarking based on histogram shifting of prediction errors. Instead of obtaining one prediction error for the current pixel, we calculate multiple prediction errors by designing a multi-prediction scheme. An asymmetric error histogram is then constructed by selecting the suitable one from these errors. Compared with traditional symmetric histogram, the asymmetric error histogram reduces the amount of shifted pixels, thus improving the watermarked image quality. Moreover, a complementary embedding strategy is proposed by combining the maximum and minimum error histograms. As the two error histograms shift in the opposite directions during the embedding, some watermarked pixels will be restored to their original values, thus the image quality is further improved. Experimental findings also show that the proposed method re-creates watermarked images of higher quality that carry larger embedding capacity compared to conventional symmetric histogram methods, such as Tsai et al.’s and Luo et al.’s works.     

Reversible data hiding for high quality images exploiting interpolation and direction order mechanism

Reversible data hiding can restore the original image from the stego image without any distortion after the embedded secret message is exactly extracted. In this paper, a novel, reversible, data hiding scheme for high quality images is proposed in spatial domain. To increase embedding capacity and enhance image quality, the proposed scheme classifies all pixels as wall pixels and non-wall pixels. For wall pixel, the interpolation error is used to embed secret data over the interpolation prediction method. In contrast, the difference value between the non-wall pixel and its parent pixel, which is defined by the direction order, is computed to hide secret data based on the histogram shifting. The experimental results demonstrate that our scheme provides a larger payload and a better image quality than some existing schemes. Moreover, the performance of the proposed scheme is more stable for different images.     

基于预测误差和直方图对的无损数据隐藏方法

针对目前存在的大部分图像数据隐藏方法的嵌入量不大和视觉效果一般的问题,提出一种基于预测误差和直方图对的无损数据隐藏方法。在多灰度图像中,用某一像素点周围的八个像素点来预测中心像素点的灰度值,同时得到预测误差。再利用直方图对的方法,把数据嵌入到预测误差中。在嵌入过程中,以嵌入阈值和起伏阈值作为指导进行嵌入,通过调整这两个阈值,得到最佳的嵌入效果。实验表明,该方法在视觉效果和嵌入容量方面都取得很好的效果。     

Reversible data hiding scheme with edge-direction predictor and modulo operation

Since the first histogram shifting technique was proposed by Ni et al., many histogram based data hiding methods were proposed to improve their scheme. One of the methods is using difference value between cover image and prediction image. Another method is using two point pairs and absolute value for improving Ni et al.’s scheme. In this paper, novel reversible data hiding scheme with edge-direction predictor and modulo operation was proposed for improving histogram shifting technique with 3 cases. We considered as much as possible around pixels by using edge-direction predictor with odd and even line embedding Also, we utilize two point pairs and absolute value at the same time by using modulo operation with wrap around. In the experimental results, the proposed scheme shown a good quality image result about 48dB as similar as other schemes and enhanced hiding capacity over 50 % than other schemes.     

Multiple predictors hiding scheme using asymmetric histograms

In recent years, many data hiding techniques have been proposed, and they can be generally classified into two types according to the reversibility of the image; these two types are reversible and irreversible data hiding. This study focused on reversible data hiding, which makes recovering the cover image possible after the secret data has been extracted. In 2013, Chen et al. proposed an asymmetric-histogram reversible data hiding method. In their scheme, two prediction error histograms (maximum and minimum error histograms) were used to embed the secret message. Two histograms were shifted in opposite directions. Hence, some stego-pixels were shifted to their original values. The complementary embedding strategy is effective. However, the predictor in the method is rough. Only neighboring pixels were used to generate the prediction errors, thereby resulting in poor prediction efficiency. To enhance the prediction efficiency, this paper combines several well-known predictors such as gradient adjusted gap (GAP), median edge detect, and interpolation by neighboring pixel (INP) to generate prediction errors. Different predictors along with the asymmetric-histogram method can achieve better results. The predictor GAP used more neighboring pixels to obtain the prediction value; therefore, it is suitable for complex images. However, the predictor INP only considers that closer pixels can achieve great results for smooth images. Hence, the proposed scheme combines GAP and asymmetric histogram for complex images. However, the predictor INP along with asymmetric histogram is used for smooth images. Experimental results showed that the PSNR value of the proposed method is greater than that of the asymmetric-histogram shifting method and other recent approaches.     

Inter-view local texture analysis based stereo image reversible data hiding

To enhance security of three-dimensional images, an inter-view local texture analysis (ILTA) based stereo image reversible data hiding method is presented. Due to low accuracy of existing predictors, two novel predictors are proposed to improve the prediction precision. In the first predictor, a texture analysis model is built by using ILTA, in which the texture similarity between a pair of matched pixels in the stereo image is used to classify pixels into horizontal texture, vertical texture, smooth and complex types. Thus, the accurate prediction is adaptively computed by considering the pixel type. Moreover, an intra-view based predictor as the second predictor is also described to predict pixels by optimal weights finding (OWF). Since ILTA and OWF predictors are combined to predict pixels in the stereo image, sharp prediction error histograms of two views are both constructed, and then multi-level histogram shifting is used to embed secret data reversibly for obtaining low image distortion and high embedding capacity. Experimental results demonstrates that ILTA and OWF predictors can obtain precise predicted values, and the proposed data hiding method outperforms some state-of-the-art data hiding methods in terms of embedding capacity and quality of stego stereo image.     

无定位图的预测误差差值扩展可逆数据隐藏*

将Tian差值扩展技术应用于彩色图像中,提出一种利用预测误差差值进行扩展嵌入的彩色图像可逆数据隐藏算法。针对传统差值扩展技术存在过分修改像素灰度值、须嵌入定位图等缺点,首先利用色彩分量间的相关性减小差值,并将差值扩展量分散到两个色彩分量中;其次,对直方图平移技术进行改进,使得同等嵌入率下图像质量达到最佳;最后由两个色彩分量中像素的预测值之和决定可用于扩展嵌入的像素,无须保存溢出定位图,提取端在提取信息时可无损地恢复原始图像。实验结果表明,与其他算法相比,该算法在同等嵌入率下可取得更好的图像质量,算法复杂度     

Reversible data hiding in encrypted image with separable data extraction from image decryption

We propose a method of reversible data hiding in encrypted image. Proposed method achieves reserving room before encryption, and separates data extraction from image decryption. Our method is an improvement of Ma’s method [IEEE Trans Inf Forensic Secur 8(3):554–558, 2013]. Our improvements mainly focus on two aspects. (1) We improved the interpolation error estimate method via using Bicubic interpolation instead of pixel estimation that calculates the weighted sum of four surrounding pixels. Thus more sharp interpolation error histogram is obtained to increase the hidden information capacity. (2) We use partitioned local histogram shift instead of traditional histogram shift to reduce the amount of shifted pixels. This directly results in a higher quality of stego image in the same embedding capacity. The experimental results indicate that the improved method offers better performance. It is superior to Ma’s work in both embedding rate and the PSNR values of stego images.     

基于中值预测的四轮嵌入可逆信息隐藏算法

传统基于预测误差直方图平移的可逆信息隐藏算法大多通过固定顺序来扫描原始图像,从而进行数据嵌入,这种方式没有考虑图像本身的纹理信息,导致无效移位像素点较多,伪装图像视觉质量较差。为解决该问题,提出一种基于中值预测的四轮嵌入可逆信息隐藏算法,以在提高嵌入容量的同时降低伪装图像的失真率。利用相邻像素之间具有较强相关性的特点,在较小的误差值处聚集大量像素点,以得到更陡峭的预测误差直方图并提高嵌入容量。对每个像素点定义复杂度,根据复杂度的高低对预测误差进行排序,优先在图像平滑区域嵌入数据,从而有效减少无效移位像素点个数,降低伪装图像的失真率。实验结果表明,该算法的最大嵌入率可以达到0.3 bpp,在0.1 bpp的嵌入率下峰值信噪比高达55.15 dB,与非对称直方图算法、误差直方图移位算法等相比,其具有较高的嵌入容量和较小的视觉失真率。     

一种基于像素预测的图像可逆信息隐藏策略

基于像素点预测的可逆信息隐藏(Reversible Data Hiding,RDH)是当今一种低失真、高容量的信息隐藏策略,特别是对于差值扩展和直方图平移算法而言,准确预测可以同时提高数据容量和减小图像失真。文中提出了一种基于像素预测差的直方图平移方案。首先,采用Warped Distance算法来对像素值进行预测,并在此基础上利用图像的局部梯度来实现对像素值的更精确预测。综合上述两种策略,改进了现有的直方图平移算法,同时也给出了防止像素值在平移后溢出的建议。实验结果表明,相对于近年来的其他方案,该方案能够在保证图像质量的情况下有效提升数据嵌入量,并且通过调整数据嵌入层级,可以在具体使用该算法时针对图像质量和数据嵌入量进行权衡。这也进一步说明了利用图像的局部特性,特别是梯度与图像局部几何相似性,可以有效提升像素预测的精度,从而改善可逆信息隐藏的容量-失真性能。     

利用像素置换的自适应可逆信息隐藏

目的 像素置换作为一种可逆信息隐藏方式具有良好的抗灰度直方图隐写分析能力,但嵌入容量偏小一直是其缺陷。针对这一问题,提出了一种基于像素置换的自适应可逆信息隐藏算法。方法 首先,与传统2×2像素块结构相比构造了尺寸更小的像素对结构,使得载体图像可以被更稠密地分割,为嵌入容量的提升提供了基数条件。其次,提出适用于该新像素结构的可嵌像素对（EPP）筛选条件,避免嵌入过程引起图像质量大幅下降。之后,根据EPP的灰度趋势差异对其进行自适应预编码,提高Huffman编码压缩比,进一步提升算法嵌入容量。最终,通过像素置换嵌入信息。结果 与2×2像素块结构的非自适应图像隐写算法相比,在同样保证灰度直方图稳定性的情况下该算法的PSNR提高了32%左右,嵌入容量提高了95%以上。其中自适应性对嵌入容量提升的贡献极大。结论 本文算法同时具有抗灰度直方图隐写分析能力与高嵌入容量性的可逆信息隐藏。算法构造了更高效的可嵌单位,并且针对不同载体图像的特点对其可嵌区域进行差异化编码。实验结果表明,本文算法在具有更好的不可见性的同时,嵌入容量得到大幅提升。     

A high capacity reversible data hiding scheme with edge prediction and difference expansion

To enhance the embedding capacity of a reversible data hiding system, in this paper, a novel multiple-base lossless scheme based on JPEG-LS pixel value prediction and reversible difference expansion will be presented. The proposed scheme employs a pixel value prediction mechanism to decrease the distortion caused by the hiding of the secret data. In general, the prediction error value tends to be much smaller in smooth areas than in edge areas, and more secret data embedded in smooth areas still meets better stego-image quality. The multiple-base notational system, on the other hand, is applied to increase the payload of the image. With the system, the payload of each pixel, determined by the complexity of its neighboring pixels, can be very different. In addition, the cover image processed by the proposed scheme can be fully recovered without any distortion. Experimental results, as shown in this paper, have demonstrated that the proposed method is capable of hiding more secret data while keeping the stego-image quality degradation imperceptible.     

基于非对称直方图平移的可逆信息隐藏算法

利用两个非对称直方图分别向相反方向平移嵌入信息,会产生像素值的补偿还原效应,提出了一种更好的像素值预测方法,生成两个更偏向0值右侧和左侧的非对称预测误差直方图,这样的两个直方图在进行第二层信息嵌入时,会出现更多的像素点恢复到原始图像像素值,减少图像扭曲失真,提高载密图像质量。与传统算法相比,减少了参与直方图修改的像素量,进一步保护了载密图像质量。     

High capacity reversible hiding scheme based on interpolation,difference expansion,and histogram shifting

Difference expansion and histogram shifting methods are two popular hiding strategies that have been widely used in many researches. For example, Hong and Chen developed a reversible hiding method based on interpolation and histogram shifting. The image quality of their scheme is exceptional; however, their scheme needs to keep and transmit two peak points for secret data extraction and pixel recovering. Moreover, the reference pixels in their scheme cannot be used to embed secret data that will decrease the hiding capacity. Therefore, this paper shall propose a reversible hiding method to enhance their scheme. The proposed method applies the difference expansion, histogram shifting and interpolation strategies to conceal secret data in the reference pixels for increasing the hiding payload. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method performs better in terms of hiding capacity than recently developed methods.     

Reversible data hiding based on block median preservation

This paper proposes a reversible data hiding scheme for gray level images. It exploits the high correlation among image block pixels to produce a difference histogram. Secret data is embedded based on a multi-level histogram shifting mechanism with reference to the integer median of each block. The image blocks are divided into four categories due to four corresponding embedding strategies, aiming at preserving the medians during data embedding. In decoder, the median pixels are retrieved first followed by the hidden data extraction, and the host image can be accurately recovered via an inverse histogram shifting mechanism after removing the secret data from the marked image. Experimental results validate the effectiveness of our scheme and demonstrate that it outperforms several previous methods in terms of capacity and marked image’s quality.     

结合层次结构和直方图平移的无损数据隐藏

针对现有基于差值直方图方法利用原始图像结构关系上的不足,提出了一种基于层次结构和差值直方图平移的无损数据隐藏方法RDH-HSDHS。RDH-HSDHS利用原始图像数据块中像素的差值形成直方图,充分利用图像中相邻像素间的相关性嵌入数据,为了进一步利用数据块中的参考像素进行数据嵌入,将参考像素组成新的图像进行下一层水印嵌入,直到当前层的嵌入容量小于解码所需的附加信息的长度或隐秘图像质量小于给定阈值。实验仿真结果表明,RDH-HSDHS能较好利用原始图像的全局和局部特性,在嵌入容量和隐秘图像质量之间达到较好的折中,在隐秘图像质量超过30 dB的同时,嵌入容量大于0.75 bit/pixel。另外,与相似方法的性能比较证明了提出方法的优势。该方法能有效应用于高质量需求的图像载体中进行信息隐藏。     

Hybrid wet paper coding mechanism for steganography employing n-indicator and fuzzy edge detector

Data hiding technique can facilitate security and the safe transmission of important information in the digital domain, which generally requires a high embedding payload and good stego image quality. Recently, a steganographic framework known as wet paper coding has been utilized as an effective strategy in image hiding to achieve the requirements of high embedding payload, good quality and robust security. In this paper, besides employing this mechanism as a fundamental stage, we take advantage of two novel techniques, namely, an efficient n-indicator and a fuzzy edge detector. The first is to increase the robustness of the proposed system to guard against being detected or traced by the statistics methods while allowing the receiver without knowledge of secret data positions to retrieve the embedded information. The second is to improve the payload and enhance the quality of stego image. The experimental results show that our proposed scheme outperforms its ability to reduce the conflict among three steganography requirements.     

Adaptive (<Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">F</Emphasis><Subscript>1</Subscript>) interpolation-based hiding scheme

In 2012, Lee et al. proposed an interpolation technique with neighboring pixels (INP) as the base to conceal secret information in predicted pixels. Their method can effectively predict the pixel between two neighboring pixels. However, the different lengths of secret messages caused great distortion when a large secret message was concealed in the predicted value. Therefore, the proposed scheme applies the center folding strategy to fold the secret message for reducing image distortion. Furthermore, the proposed scheme references the variance of the neighboring pixel to determine the length of the secret message for controlling image quality. The parameter pair (k, F ₁) is used to categorize the variance and determine the size of the secret message hidden in each category. k is the total number of thresholds which computed based on the characteristics of each image for balancing hiding payload and image quality. F ₁ is the length of the secret message for the smoothest area. The experimental results show that the embedding capacity of the proposed method is 1.5 bpp higher than that of existing methods. For the same hiding payload, the image quality of the proposed method is 1.6 dB higher than that of existing methods.     

图像分区选择的像素值排序可逆数据隐藏

目的 基于像素值排序（PVO）的数据隐藏算法因其高保真的优越性受到广泛重视,并不断得到改进。本文提出一种图像分区选择思想,以进一步充分利用图像的嵌入空间,改善PVO算法的嵌入性能,提高载秘图像的信噪比。方法 原始PVO算法通常采用预测差值“1”进行数据隐藏,对平滑像素组有较好的利用率和隐蔽性,而对毛躁像素组隐秘性能明显下降,算法性能与图像像素分布情况密切相关。本文在PVO算法基础上提出图像分区选择的思想,首先,将原始图像分为若干区域,然后按移位率从小到大的顺序依次选择图像区域;其次,在每个区域中选择合适的嵌入预测误差;最后,按顺序在被选区域利用该区域的最优嵌入差值完成信息嵌入。结果 假设将图像划分为8×8个区域,对本文算法与原始PVO算法进行比较,当嵌入量为1×10⁴ bit时,Elaine图像的移位率由81.59%降为74.40%,载秘图像的峰值信噪比（PSNR）值由55.388 2提高为56.996 9,提高了1.608 7,采用其他图像并就不同嵌入量进行实验,各图像PSNR值均表现出不同程度的提高。其次,将图像分别划分为2×2、4×4、8×8、16×16个分区,当嵌入量为1×10⁴ bit时,Lena图像PSNR由原始PVO的59.204 6逐渐增加至60.846 9,其他图像在不同嵌入量时PSNR均随着分区数的增加而有不同程度的提高。结论 本文提出的基于图像分区选择的改进PVO算法,可根据像素分布情况增加对嵌入空间的利用,在相同嵌入量情况下,改进后的算法能够获得更高的PSNR值;在一定分区数量条件范围内,分区数量与图像PSNR值表现出正相关性,随着分区数量的增加,图像PSNR值随之增加;本文方法在一定程度上改善了嵌入容量,弥补了因分区数量增加带来的辅助信息增加的问题。