Separable and error-free reversible data hiding in encrypted image with high payload.

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Information Security
• Image Processing

Background:

• Digital image security is paramount.
• Existing data-hiding methods in encrypted images often face limitations in payload capacity and extraction accuracy.
• Reversible data hiding (RDH) is crucial for applications requiring perfect reconstruction.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel separable reversible data-hiding scheme in encrypted images.
• To enhance payload capacity and ensure error-free data extraction.
• To provide a method with improved performance and simpler calculations compared to prior art.

Main Methods:

• The proposed scheme partitions cover images into non-overlapping blocks.
• Multigranularity encryption is applied, followed by block smoothness estimation using selected pixels.
• Data embedding utilizes local histogram shifting guided by peak points, sorted by block smoothness.

Main Results:

• The method achieves a high payload capacity.
• It guarantees error-free data extraction and complete image recovery.
• The scheme offers superior performance, including better embedding quality and simpler computations.

Conclusions:

• The separable reversible data-hiding scheme provides an efficient and effective solution for secure image data embedding.
• The technique balances high payload, accuracy, and computational simplicity.
• This approach advances the field of data hiding in encrypted images.