Differential energy based watermarking algorithm using wavelet tree group modulation (WTGM) and Human Visual System

Abstract

Wavelet tree based watermarking algorithms are using the wavelet coefficient energy difference for copyright protection and ownership verification. WTQ (Wavelet Tree Quantization) algorithm is the representative technique using energy difference for watermarking. According to the cryptanalysis on WTQ, the watermark embedded in the protected image can be removed successfully. In this paper, we present a novel differential energy watermarking algorithm based on the wavelet tree group modulation structure, i.e. WTGM (Wavelet Tree Group Modulation). The wavelet coefficients of host image are divided into disjoint super trees (each super tree containing two sub-super trees). The watermark is embedded in the relatively high-frequency components using the group strategy such that energies of sub-super trees are close. The employment of wavelet tree structure, sum-of-subsets and positive/negative modulation effectively improve the drawbacks of the WTQ scheme for its insecurity. The integration of the HVS (Human Visual System) for WTGM provides a better visual effect of the watermarked image. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm in terms of robustness and imperceptibility.