Franco Bartolini

Improved wavelet-based watermarking through pixel-wise masking

A watermarking algorithm operating in the wavelet domain is presented. Performance improvement with respect to existing algorithms is obtained by means of a new approach to mask the watermark according to the characteristics of the human visual system (HVS). In contrast to conventional methods operating in the wavelet domain, masking is accomplished pixel by pixel by taking into account the texture and the luminance content of all the image subbands. The watermark consists of a pseudorandom sequence which is adaptively added to the largest detail bands. As usual, the watermark is detected by computing the correlation between the watermarked coefficients and the watermarking code, and the detection threshold is chosen in such a way that the knowledge of the watermark energy used in the embedding phase is not needed, thus permitting one to adapt it to the image at hand. Experimental results and comparisons with other techniques operating in the wavelet domain prove the effectiveness of the new algorithm.

A DCT-domain system for robust image watermarking

Abstract Digital watermarking has been proposed as a solution to the problem of copyright protection of multimedia data in a networked environment. It makes possible to tightly associate to a digital document a code allowing the identification of the data creator, owner, authorized consumer, and so on. In this paper a new watermarking algorithm for digital images is presented: the method, which operates in the frequency domain, embeds a pseudo-random sequence of real numbers in a selected set of DCT coefficients. After embedding, the watermark is adapted to the image by exploiting the masking characteristics of the human visual system, thus ensuring the watermark invisibility. By exploiting the statistical properties of the embedded sequence, the mark can be reliably extracted without resorting to the original uncorrupted image. Experimental results demonstrate that the watermark is robust to several signal processing techniques, including JPEG compression, low pass and median filtering, histogram equalization and stretching, dithering, addition of Gaussian noise, resizing, and multiple watermarking.

DCT-based watermark recovering without resorting to the uncorrupted original image

Digital watermarking has been proposed as a viable solution to the need of copyright protection and authentication of multimedia data in a networked environment, since it makes it possible to identify the author, owner, distributor or authorized consumer of a document. In this paper a new watermarking technique to add a code to digital images is presented; the method operates in the frequency domain embedding a pseudo-random sequence of real numbers in a selected set of DCT coefficients. Watermark casting is performed by exploiting the masking characteristics of the human visual system, to ensure watermark invisibility. The embedded sequence is extracted without resorting to the original image, so that the proposed technique represents a major improvement to methods relying on the comparison between the watermarked and original images. Experimental results demonstrate that the watermark is robust to most of the signal processing techniques and geometric distortions.

A new decoder for the optimum recovery of nonadditive watermarks

Watermark detection, i.e., the detection of an invisible signal hidden within an image for copyright protection or data authentication, has classically been tackled by means of correlation-based techniques. Nevertheless, when watermark embedding does not obey an additive rule, or when the features the watermark is superimposed on do not follow a Gaussian pdf, correlation-based decoding is not the optimum choice. A new decoding algorithm is presented here which is optimum for nonadditive watermarks embedded in the magnitude of a set of full-frame DFT coefficients of the host image. By relying on statistical decision theory, the structure of the optimum is derived according to the Neyman-Pearson criterion, thus permitting to minimize the missed detection probability subject to a given false detection rate. The validity of the optimum decoder has been tested thoroughly to assess the improvement it permits to achieve from a robustness perspective. The results we obtained confirm the superiority of the novel algorithm with respect to classical correlation-based decoding.

Optimum decoding and detection of multiplicative watermarks

This work addresses the problem of optimum decoding and detection of a multibit, multiplicative watermark hosted by Weibull-distributed features: a situation which is classically encountered for image watermarking in the magnitude-of-DFT domain. As such, this work can be seen as an extension of the system described in a previous paper, where the same problem is addressed for the case of 1-bit watermarking. The theoretical analysis is validated through Monte Carlo simulations. Although the structure of the optimum decoder/detector is derived in the absence of attacks, some experimental results are also presented, giving a measure of the overall robustness of the watermark when attacks are present.

Managing copyright in open networks

The need for an electronic copyright management system (ECMS) that protects intellectual property rights (IPR) in open network environments continues to grow. Network security issues are classically handled through cryptography; however, cryptography ensures confidentiality, authenticity, and integrity only when a message is transmitted through a public channel, such as an open network. It does not protect against unauthorized copying after the message has been successfully transmitted. Digital watermarking is an effective way to protect copyright of multimedia data even after its transmission. A watermark, embedded in the data, can uniquely identify the documents owner or authorized user. The main problem with using watermark technology, for IPR protection, however, is its reversibility. Anyone who can read or detect the watermark can also remove it by inverting the watermark process. Our open network ECMS combines watermarking with cryptography to achieve reliable copyright protection while satisfying two contrasting requirements: actors in ECMS transactions must be able to verify that the watermark granting their rights is truly embedded in the multimedia document; and actors (other than the author) must not be able to remove the watermark.

Data hiding for fighting piracy

The problem of digital content piracy is becoming more and more critical, and major content producers are risking seeing their business being drastically reduced because of the ease by which digital contents can be copied and distributed. This is the reason why digital rights management (DRM) is currently garnering much attention from industry and research. Among the various technologies that can contribute to set up a reliable DRM system, data hiding (watermarking) has found an important place due to its potentiality of persistent attaching some additional information to the content itself. In this article, we analyzed the possible use of data hiding technology in DRM systems. The article also gives a brief survey of the main characteristics of the most common data hiding methods such as proof of ownership, watermark, copyright protection, infringement tracking, copy control, and item identification. The article also investigates the different approaches by highlighting critical points of each approach in particular from the point of view of hostile attacks.

Adaptively weighted vector-median filters for motion-fields smoothing

In the field of video coding the issues of backward prediction and standards conversion have focused an increasing attention towards techniques for an effective estimation of the true interframe motion. The problem of restoration of motion vector-fields computed by means of a standard block matching algorithm is addressed. The restoration must be carried out carefully by exploiting both the spatial correlation of the vector-field, and the significance of the obtained vectors as measures of the reliability of the previous estimation step. A novel approach matching both the above requirements is presented. Based on the theory of vector-median filters an adaptive scheme is developed and results are discussed.

Multichannel watermarking of color images

In the field of image watermarking, research has been mainly focused on grayscale image watermarking, whereas the extension to the color case is usually accomplished by marking the image luminance, or by processing each color channel separately. A DCT domain watermarking technique expressly designed to exploit the peculiarities of color images is presented. The watermark is hidden within the data by modifying a subset of full-frame DCT coefficients of each color channel. Detection is based on a global correlation measure which is computed by taking into account the information conveyed by the three color channels as well as their interdependency. To ultimately decide whether or not the image contains the watermark, the correlation value is compared to a threshold. With respect to existing grayscale algorithms, a new approach to threshold selection is proposed, which permits reducing the probability of missed detection to a minimum, while ensuring a given false detection probability. Experimental results, as well as theoretical analysis, are presented to demonstrate the validity of the new approach with respect to algorithms operating on image luminance only.

A general framework for robust watermarking security

The analysis of the security of watermarking algorithms has received increasing attention since it has been recognized that the sole investigation of robustness issues is not enough to properly address the challenges set by practical applications. Such a security analysis, though, is still in its infancy, up to a point that a general agreement has not yet been reached even on the most fundamental problems. The purpose of this paper is to provide a general security framework encompassing most of the problems encountered in real-world applications. By considering the amount of information the attacker has about the watermarking algorithm, we introduce the notion of fair and un-fair attacks, so to ease the classification of different systems and attacks. Though we recognize that many important differences exist between watermarking and cryptographic security, a large part of our work is inspired by the Diffie-Helmanns paradigm, which is widely used in cryptography. For each class of systems great care is taken to describe both the attackers and watermarkers point of view, presenting the challenges raised by each system to these different actors. Finally, we try to outline some research directions which, according to us, deserve further analysis.