Reversible data hiding

Abstract

We present a novel reversible (lossless) data hiding (embedding) technique, which enables the exact recovery of the original host signal upon extraction of the embedded information. A generalization of the well-known LSB (least significant bit) modification is proposed as the data embedding method, which introduces additional operating points on the capacity-distortion curve. Lossless recovery of the original is achieved by compressing portions of the signal that are susceptible to embedding distortion, and transmitting these compressed descriptions as a part of the embedded payload. A prediction-based conditional entropy coder which utilizes static portions of the host as side-information improves the compression efficiency, and thus the lossless data embedding capacity.