Reversible data hiding algorithm for color images combining superpixel segmentation and pixel value ordering

Abstract

At present, most of the reversible data hiding (RDH) algorithms divide images into regular rectangular blocks for data embedding, and most of the RDH algorithms for color images apply the steganography algorithms of grayscale images directly to each color channel of color images. We propose a color image RDH algorithm combining superpixel segmentation and pixel value ordering (PVO), which uses a superpixel segmentation technique to segment the image into irregular pixel blocks with high color similarity to improve the number of smooth blocks and the accuracy of pixel prediction. We then propose a hybrid embedding algorithm based on PVO for B and R channels to reduce the modification of G channel pixels to reduce the steganographic image distortion level. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm obtains higher quality steganographic images than the existing RDH algorithms.