Abstract

In this paper, we first designed Huffman code (HC)-based absolute moment block truncation coding (AMBTC). Then, we applied Huffman code (HC)-based absolute moment block truncation coding (AMBTC) to design a pixel pair-wise fragile image watermarking method. Pixel pair-wise tampering detection and content recovery mechanisms were collaboratively applied in the proposed scheme to enhance readability even when images have been tampered with. Representative features are derived from our proposed HC-based AMBTC compression codes of the original image, and then serve as authentication code and recovery information at the same time during tamper detection and recovery operations. Recovery information is embedded into two LSB of the original image with a turtle shell-based data hiding method and a pre-determined matrix. Therefore, each non-overlapping pixel-pair carries four bits of recovery information. When the recipient suspects that the received image may have been tampered with, the compressed image can be used to locate tampered pixels, and then the recovery information can be used to restore the tampered pixels.

Highlights

  • The advancement of image editing software, such as Fotor, Gimp, Painter, Photoshop, etc., allows users to edit digital images

  • We propose a self-embedding fragile watermarking algorithm based on pixel pairs to improve the accuracy of tamper detection and to restore the tampered areas of an image

  • To generate fewer representative features to serve as the recovery information and authentication bits at the same time, in this paper we proposed a variant of absolute moment block truncation coding (AMBTC) called Huffman code (HC)-based Absolute moment block truncation coding (HC-based AMBTC), which is a lossy compression scheme

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Summary

Introduction

The advancement of image editing software, such as Fotor, Gimp, Painter, Photoshop, etc., allows users to edit digital images. Zhang et al proposed another scheme based on a reference-sharing mechanism [7] Their embedded watermark is a reference, but is derived from different regions of the original content and is shared by these regions for later restoration once a tampered area is identified. In 2020, Chang et al applied the compression code derived by weight-based AMBTC to design self-recovery-based fragile watermarking [28] In their scheme, the image quality of the restored image is slightly lower than that offered by scheme [10]; this is because the size of bitmap derived by weight-based AMBTC is only half of the original bitmap’s size. We propose a self-embedding fragile watermarking algorithm based on pixel pairs to improve the accuracy of tamper detection and to restore the tampered areas of an image.

HC-Based Absolute Moment Block Truncation Coding
Proposed Pixel Pair-Wise Fragile Watermarking Scheme
Watermark Embedding
Recovery Information Generation
Embedding Strategy
Detection and Recovery of Tampered Area
Conclusions
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