Game-theoretic Analysis to Parameterized Reversible Watermarking
Hanzhou Wu, Xinpeng Zhang · IETE Technical Review · 2020
Separable reversible watermarking enables two encoders to separately embed a payload in a cover, and the original cover can be reconstructed by cooperation. It is required to limit the embedding distortion for the two encoders so that the marked content will not be seriously degraded, whereas both encoders expect to embed a sufficient payload. It motivates us to present a two-encoder game related to rate-distortion optimization of reversible watermarking. We investigate non-cooperative game and cooperative game in a parameterized perspective, which provides good generalization. We find the equilibrium strategies for both encoders under constraints. We extend the game to a multistage win-or-lose case, where both encoders want to win the game. We model the game on a rooted tree with unbounded branching and identify the winner once the initial state is given.