Screen-Cam Robust Image Watermarking with Feature-Based Synchronization

Abstract

The screen-cam process, which is taking pictures of the content displayed on a screen with mobile phones or cameras, is one of the main ways that image information is leaked. However, traditional image watermarking methods are not resilient to screen-cam processes with severe distortion. In this paper, a screen-cam robust watermarking scheme with a feature-based synchronization method is proposed. First, the distortions caused by the screen-cam process are investigated. These distortions can be summarized into the five categories of linear distortion, gamma tweaking, geometric distortion, noise attack, and low-pass filtering attack. Then, a local square feature region (LSFR) construction method based on a Gaussian function, modified Harris–Laplace detector, and speeded-up robust feature (SURF) orientation descriptor is developed for watermark synchronization. Next, the message is repeatedly embedded in each selected LSFR by an improved embedding algorithm, which employs a non-rotating embedding method and a preprocessing method, to modulate the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) coefficients. In the process of watermark detection, we fully utilize the captured information and extract the message based on a local statistical feature. Finally, the experimental results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the method against common attacks and screen-cam attacks. Compared to the previous schemes, our scheme has not only good robustness against screen-cam attack, but is also effective against screen-cam with additional common desynchronization attacks.

A Hybrid Robust Image Watermarking Method Based on DWT-DCT and SIFT for Copyright Protection

“…To show the competitiveness of our approach, we compare it with our previous work [ 24 ] as well as schemes in [ 13 , 21 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 34 , 44 , 45 ] in terms of imperceptibility and robustness.…”

“…Table A4 shows the results of robustness compared to the scheme of Chen et al [ 45 ] in terms of BER. The comparison has been made for three different images Lena, Mandrill, and Peppers.…”

“…Chen et al. [ 45 ] proposed a robust watermarking scheme with a feature-based synchronization technique. The watermark is repeatedly embedded in each selected local square feature region (LSFR) by modulating the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) coefficients.…”

Data Hiding and Its Applications: Digital Watermarking and Steganography

“…Among the research papers, four of them focus on new watermarking applications, including watermarking for 3D models [5], a watermarking scheme robust against screencam attacks [6], a watermarking protocol based on blockchain [7], and a watermarking framework to protect Deep Learning (DL) models [8].…”

“…Chen et al [6] present a screen-cam robust image watermarking scheme using featurebased synchronization. Taking pictures of a screen with mobile phones or cameras is one of the main methods to leak image information.…”