A robust image watermarking method based on DWT, DCT, and SVD using a new technique for correction of main geometric attacks

Abstract

In this article, a new scheme based on a combination of DWT, DCT, and SVD domains is presented, in which the main focus is to provide proper solutions for reducing effect of geometric attacks. To address this goal, we divide host image into four nonoverlapping rectangular segments called sub-images and then watermark is independently embedded into each of them, using the hybrid scheme. The redundancy reduces effect of cropping attack. Moreover, in order to correct main geometric attacks, such as rotation, translation, and affine translation, we propose an inventional synchronization technique to recover geometrically attacked image via detection of desired image corners. A binary image in the first experiment and some 1D binary random sequences with different lengths in the next experiments are used as watermarks. Since the studied binary sequences have generally smaller lengths than the capacity offered by the proposed scheme, we are motivated to utilize error correction techniques, such as data replication and hamming code for them. Achieved results, compared with other geometric robust schemes, shows that the proposed scheme has stronger or comparable robustness against common signal processing and geometric attacks.