A multiple transform based approach for robust and blind image copyright protection

Abstract

SummaryDigital image sharing and utilization have increasing in a speedy manner at present time. Therefore, copyright/ownership protection for digital images has been an essential requirement in the modern world of digital advancements. This work offers an image watermarking scheme to provide ownership/copyright verification in an effective manner with no conciliation with imperceptibility. The image is first partitioned into small size blocks. During embedding, a multilevel transform domain‐based framework is employed to embed the watermark information into blocks. Additionally, the block selection process is made randomize (key‐based) to offer high security against illegal manipulations/access. Before embedding, the watermark is encrypted using the Arnold transform‐based approach for additional security. The scheme has blind nature, high imperceptibility and it is robust enough to endure a different variety of processing attacks. Experimental results on different images illustrate that the proposed watermarking approach has high imperceptibility, high robustness, decent embedding capacity, and significant security features. The relative comparison with the existing robust watermarking schemes (having the same payload) shows the superiority of the proposed work over existing methods presented in the recent past.