Use of Quotient-Embedding Scheme with Smart Arrangement Technique to Hide Gray-Scale Data

A DCT-based digital watermarking by using quotient-embedding scheme with smart arrangement technique is proposed. To increase the hidden capacity while maintaining the robustness of the proposed method, input data are first bundled to a set of 4-octet with a smart arrangement and then embedded in the predetermined low- and middle-frequency coefficients of a DCT block. Simulations show that the mixed images generated by the proposed method are tolerant with image processing operations such as JPEG, JPEG2000, cropping, blurred, sharpening, low-pass filtering, noise additions, brightness, posterize, (color) quantization, and inverting. Moreover, the PSNR is not bad while the resultant perceived quality and hidden capability are good.