An Effective Image-Adaptive Hybrid Watermarking Scheme with Transform Coefficients
Navneet Yadav, Navdeep Goel · International Journal of Image and Graphics · 2020
Robust and invisible watermarking provides a feasible solution to prove the ownership of the genuine content owner. Different watermarking algorithms have been presented by the researchers in the past but no algorithm could be termed as perfect. Proposed work puts forward a novel image-adaptive method of embedding a binary watermark in the image in a transparent manner. Discrete wavelet transform (DWT), singular value decomposition (SVD) and discrete cosine transform (DCT) are used together in the proposed hybrid watermarking scheme. Image-adaptive nature of the scheme is reflected in the usage of only high entropy [Formula: see text] blocks for the watermark embedding. Binary watermark is embedded in the DCT coefficients using a flexible strength derived from the means of the DCT coefficients. This flexible strength factor (SF) has different value for the DCT coefficients originated from different [Formula: see text] blocks. Any desired level of visual quality could be obtained by varying the adjusting parameter of the flexible SF. Side information generated in the watermark embedding is used in the detection of watermark. The presented watermarking technique shows better robustness in comparison to the three contemporary watermarking techniques.