Fragile image watermarking scheme based on VQ index sharing and self-embedding

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a self-embedding fragile watermarking scheme using vector quantization (VQ) and index sharing. First, the principle contents of original image are compactly represented by a series of VQ indices. Then, after permutation, the binary bits of VQ indices are extended to generate reference-bits by a random binary matrix, which can make all reference-bits share the information of VQ index bits from different regions of the whole image. The image is embedded with watermark-bits including hash-bits for tampering localization and reference-bits for content recovery, and is transmitted to receiver side. Tampered regions in the received, suspicious image can be accurately located and then be recovered by VQ index reconstruction. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme can achieve successful content recovery for larger tampering rate and obtain better visual quality of recovered results than the reported schemes.