Automatic contrast enhancement using reversible data hiding

Automatic image enhancement is increasingly becoming a popular tool for the smartphone environment. The tool automatically enhances the image right after it has been stored to enhance user´s experience. But, because enhancements are subjective and dependent on the image, the original image is backed up to provide a recovery option. This requirement inevitably increases the storage requirement. In order to reduce it, a novel automatic contrast enhancement based on reversible data hiding (ACERDH) is proposed. The proposed method mimics the equalization effect observed in the basic contrast enhancement technique called global histogram equalization, while providing reversibility. The experiment visually show improved contrast. Additional experiment was done to compare the embedding capacity with an another reversible data hiding based contrast enhancement technique [4]. The proposed method is fit for automation, while providing data hiding capability and removing the additional storage requirement.