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A robust watermarking algorithm based on QR factorization and DCT using quantization index modulation technique

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Abstract

We propose a robust digital watermarking algorithm for copyright protection. A stable feature is obtained by utilizing QR factorization and discrete cosine transform (DCT) techniques, and a meaningful watermark image is embedded into an image by modifying the stable feature with a quantization index modulation (QIM) method. The combination of QR factorization, DCT, and QIM techniques guarantees the robustness of the algorithm. Furthermore, an embedding location selection method is exploited to select blocks with small modifications as the embedding locations. This can minimize the embedding distortion and greatly improve the imperceptibility of our scheme. Several standard images were tested and the experimental results were compared with those of other published schemes. The results demonstrate that our proposed scheme can achieve not only better imperceptibility, but also stronger robustness against common signal processing operations and lossy compressions, such as filtering, noise addition, scaling, sharpening, rotation, cropping, and JPEG/JPEG2000 compression.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Communication and Information Security Lab, Shenzhen Graduate School, Peking University, Shenzhen, 518055, China

    Hong-yuan Chen & Yue-sheng Zhu

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  1. Hong-yuan Chen
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  2. Yue-sheng Zhu
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Correspondence to Yue-sheng Zhu.

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Project supported by the “Shuang Bai Plan” and “Shenzhen-Hong Kong Innovation Circle” Research Program of Shenzhen, China

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Chen, Hy., Zhu, Ys. A robust watermarking algorithm based on QR factorization and DCT using quantization index modulation technique. J. Zhejiang Univ. - Sci. C 13, 573–584 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.C1100338

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1631/jzus.C1100338

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