Reversible Data Hiding in Encrypted Image via Joint Encoding of Multiple MSB and Pixel Difference

Abstract

Reversible data hiding in encrypted image (RDHEI) has become a research hotspot, which can effectively protect image content privacy. An RDHEI scheme based on the joint encoding of multiple MSBs (most significant bits) and pixel difference is proposed in this paper. A block-based image encryption method is adopted on the content owner side, which can securely protect the image contents while retaining the spatial correlation within each block. By the joint encoding strategy of multiple MSB and pixel difference, the redundancy within the bit plane is sufficiently compressed to accommodate more additional data; thus, a high embedding rate can be achieved. According to different kinds of available keys, image decryption and data extraction can be separably conducted on the receiver side. Experimental results show that our scheme can achieve a higher embedding rate than some state-of-the-art schemes.