A reversible data hiding method free from location map and parameter memorization

This paper proposes a reversible data hiding method in which hidden data are extracted without using either any image-dependent parameter or any image-dependent location map indicating watermarked positions. Using an image-dependent parameter and/or an image-dependent location map at an extraction process requires to identify the image among possible images for retrieving its corresponding parameter and/or location map from the database. In contrast, the proposed method is free from such costly operations and storage. Furthermore, the proposed method having flexibility in the payload length, whereas the conventional parameter memorization- and location map-free method has to fix the payload length as a system-wide setting. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.