Hidden digital watermarks in images

TLDR

Watermarking hides secret information in digital images to label them and deter unauthorized copying or confirm origin. The paper proposes an image authentication technique that embeds digital watermarks into images. The method embeds visually recognizable watermark patterns by selectively altering middle‑frequency image components, with several variations explored. Experiments demonstrate the technique withstands image processing, cropping, and JPEG compression.

Abstract

In this paper, an image authentication technique by embedding digital "watermarks" into images is proposed. Watermarking is a technique for labeling digital pictures by hiding secret information into the images. Sophisticated watermark embedding is a potential method to discourage unauthorized copying or attest the origin of the images. In our approach, we embed the watermarks with visually recognizable patterns into the images by selectively modifying the middle-frequency parts of the image. Several variations of the proposed method are addressed. The experimental results show that the proposed technique successfully survives image processing operations, image cropping, and the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) lossy compression.