Hsuan T. Chang

Multiple-image encryption and multiplexing using a modified Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm and phase modulation in Fresnel-transform domain

What we believe to be a new technique, based on a modified Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm (MGSA) and a phase modulation scheme in the Fresnel-transform domain, is proposed to reduce cross talks existing in multiple-image encryption and multiplexing. First, each plain image is encoded and multiplexed into a phase function by using the MGSA and a different wavelength/position parameter. Then all the created phase functions are phase modulated to result in different shift amounts of the reconstruction images before being combined together into a single phase-only function. Simulation results show that the cross talks between multiplexed images have been significantly reduced, compared with prior methods [Opt. Lett.30, 1306 (2005); J. Opt. A8, 391 (2006)], thus presenting high promise in increasing the multiplexing capacity and encrypting grayscale and color images.

Multiple-phase retrieval for optical security systems by use of random-phase encoding

The technique of the multiple phase encoding for optical security and verification systems is presented in this paper. This technique is based on a 4-f optical correlator that is a common architecture for optical image encryption and verification systems. However, two or more phase masks are iteratively retrieved by use of the proposed multiple phases retrieval algorithm (MPRA) to obtain the target image. The convergent speed of the iteration process in the MPRA is significantly increased and the recovered image is much more similar to the target image than those in previous approaches. In addition, the quantization effects due to the finite resolution of the phase levels in practical implementation are discussed. The relationships between the number of phase masks and the quantized phase levels are also investigated. According to the simulation results, two and three phase masks are enough to design an efficient security verification system with 64 and 32 phase levels, respectively.

Image watermarking by use of digital holography embedded in the discrete-cosine-transform domain

Digital holography techniques can be utilized to implement image watermarking schemes. In a previous method proposed by Takai and Mifune [Appl. Opt. 41,865 (2002)], a watermark image is transformed into a digital Fourier hologram, which then is directly superposed onto a content image to perform the embedding process. In the detection stage, the watermark is extracted based on the inverse Fourier transform and optical holography techniques. A method in which the hologram is superposed on the discrete-cosine-transform domain of the content image is proposed to significantly improve Takai and Mifunes method. The proposed method can greatly reduce the degradation on the superposed image, which is the major drawback in Takai and Mifunes method. Simulation results also demonstrate that the watermark can be successfully extracted under different kinds of attack.

Public-key-based optical image cryptosystem based on data embedding techniques

We propose a public-key-based optical image cryptosystem for practical secure communications since conventional optical crypto- systems that use a symmetric algorithm are confronted by the problem of key delivery. The proposed system employs a hybrid architecture in which a double-random-phase encoding is used to cipher and decipher an image and an asymmetric algorithm is used for ciphering and deci- phering the session key. To solve this problem of key delivery, the double-random-phase encoding algorithm is analyzed to establish a co- vert channel and therefore elucidate the phenomenon that the amplitude part of the ciphered image is less sensitive to quantization error than the other parts in the Fourier and output planes. The session key is then hidden in the covert channel setup in the ciphered image and extracted at the receiver side. Experimental results demonstrate that the amplitude parts in the Fourier and output planes are better suited to convey the session key because they enable reconstructed images with a higher visual quality to be obtained.

Fast double-phase retrieval in Fresnel domain using modified Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm for lensless optical security systems

A novel fast double-phase retrieval algorithm for lensless optical security systems based on the Fresnel domain is presented in this paper. Two phase-only masks are efficiently determined by using a modified Gerchberg-Saxton algorithm, in which two cascaded Fresnel transforms are replaced by one Fourier transform with compensations to reduce the consumed computations. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm substantially speeds up the iterative process, while keeping the reconstructed image highly correlated with the original one.

Design of cascaded phase keys for a hierarchical security system

An image cryptosystem based on multiple phase-only masks is proposed. The proposed cryptosystem is a hierarchical security system that can use multiple phase keys to retrieve different amounts of data. In addition to the sequential order of the phase keys, the distance parameters among the phase keys are introduced to increase the system security. Even when an illegal user steals all the phase keys, the system cannot be broken without the correct sequential order and the distance parameters. However, the proposed system can verify the identities of the persons by the cascaded structure for the phase keys to generate different verification images. Simulation results are further demonstrated to verify the proposed method.

Iteration-free fractal image coding based on efficient domain pool design

The domain pool design is one of the dominant issues which affect the coding performance of fractal image compression. In this paper, we employ the LBG algorithm and propose a block averaging method to design the efficient domain pools based on a proposed iteration-free fractal image codec. The redundancies between the generated domain blocks are reduced by the proposed methods. Therefore, we can obtain the domain pools that are more efficient than those in the conventional fractal coding schemes and thus the coding performance is improved. On the other hand, the iteration process in the conventional fractal coding scheme not only requires a large size of memory and a high computation complexity but also prolongs the decoding process. The proposed iteration-free fractal codec can overcome the problems above. In computer simulation, both the LBG-based and block-averaging methods for the domain pool design in the proposed iteration free scheme achieve excellent performances. For example, based on the proposed block-averaging method, the decoded Lena image has at least a 0.5 dB higher PSNR (under the same bit rate) and an eight-time faster decoding speed than the conventional fractal coding schemes that require iterations.

An improved scheme for fractal image coding

The performance of the fractal image coding system is improved in our research. Comparing with our previous work and the original work accomplished by Jacquin, both the PSNR and the compression ratio are increased. Based on the local similarity of nature images, the search region of the domain blocks is confined within the neighborhood of the range block. The search region for child domain blocks are extended to get a better match process. On the other hand, testing all the possible 8 values of the contrast scaling and selecting the best one further improves the performance. The blocking effect due to the mean-coded range block is also reduced by using a post-processing technique. Here we achieve a 33.9 dB PSNR at the bit rate 0.45 bit/pixel, while our previous work and Jacquins scheme achieved 32.6 dB at 0.52 bit/pixel and 32 dB PSNR at 0.6 bit/pixel, respectively.

Gradient match and side match fractal vector quantizers for images

In this paper, we propose gradient match fractal vector quantizers (GMFVQs) and side match fractal vector quantizers (SMFVQs), which are two classes of finite state fractal vector quantizers (FSFVQs), for the image coding framework. In our previous work, we proposed the noniterative fractal block coding (FBC) technique to improve the decoding speed and the coding performance for conventional FBC techniques. To reduce the number of bits for denoting the fractal code of the range block, the concepts of the gradient match vector quantizers (GMVQs) and the side match vector quantizers (SMVQs) are employed to the noniterative FBC technique. Unlike ordinary vector quantizers, the super codebooks in the proposed GMFVQs and SMFVQs are generated from the affine-transformed domain blocks in the noniterative FBC technique. The codewords in the state codebook are dynamically extracted from the super codebook with the side-match and gradient-match criteria. The redundancy in the affine-transformed domain blocks is greatly reduced and the compression ratio can be significantly increased. Our simulation results show that 15%-20% of the bit rates in the noniterative FBC technique are saved by using the proposed GMFVQs.

Image authentication with tampering localization based on watermark embedding in wavelet domain

An image authentication and tampering localization technique based on a wavelet-based digital watermarking procedure [Opt. Express 3(12), 491-496 (1998)] is proposed. To determine whether a given watermarked image has been tampered with or not, the similarity between the extracted and embedded watermarks is measured. If the similarity is less than a threshold value, the proposed sequential watermark alignment based on a coefficient stamping (SWACS) scheme is used to determine the modified wavelet coefficients corresponding to the tampered region. Then, the morphological region growing and subband duplication (MRGSD) scheme are used to include neighboring wavelet coefficients and then duplicate the wavelet coefficients in other subbands. The experimental results show that the proposed SWACS and MRGSD schemes can efficiently identify different types of image tampering. Moreover, the detection performance of the proposed system on various sizes of the watermark and tampered region is also evaluated.