Reversible data hiding scheme based on pixel-value differencing in dual images

Abstract

In this article, a new reversible data hiding scheme using pixel-value differencing in dual images is proposed. The proposed pixel-value differencing method can embed more secret data as the difference value of adjacent pixels is increased. In the proposed scheme, the cover image is divided into non-overlapping blocks and the maximum difference value is calculated to hide secret bits. On the sender side, the length of embeddable secret data is calculated by using the maximum difference value and the log function, and the decimal secret data are embedded into the two stego-images after applying the ceil function and floor function. On the receiver side, the secret data extraction and the cover image restoration can be performed by using the correlation between two stego-images. After recovering the cover image from two stego-images, the secret data can be extracted using the maximum difference value and the log function. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme has a higher embedding capacity and the proposed scheme differs in embedding the secret data depending on the characteristics of the cover image with less distortion. Also, the proposed scheme maintains the degree of image distortion that cannot be perceived by the human visual system.