Efficient informed embedding of multi-bit watermark

In this paper we present a practical blind detection system for multi-bit watermarking. In contrast to Hernandez et al. (1999), we propose a deterministic embedding scheme that does not depend on statistical assumptions about the original image. The proposed system can be considered an extension of Cox et al. (2000) for multi-bit messages using code division multiplexing. By informed embedding, using the knowledge of the original image and the detection scheme, the proposed system assures total embedding efficiency. We analyze the impact of valumetric distortion sources on the ability to recover the watermark message and propose a simple parameter to control system robustness. Experimental results obtained for spatial domain watermarking illustrate the efficiency of the proposed system.