Hiding iris data for authentication of digital images using wavelet theory

This paper introduces an efficient approach to protect the ownership by hiding an iris data into digital image for an authentication purpose. It is based on the theory of wavelets. The idea is to secretly embed biometric data (iris print) in the content of the image identifying the owner. The system is based on an empirical analysis of biometric and watermarking technologies, and it is split into several processes. The first process is based on iris image analysis, which aids the generation of the iris code (watermark); the second and the third processes deal with embedding and detecting a watermark; and the last process deals with the authentication. A new metric that measures the objective quality of the image based on the detected watermark bit is introduced, which does not require the original unmarked image for watermark detection. Simulation results show the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach. The text was submitted by the author in English.