Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 1

Transform Based
Watermarking
Solachidis Vassilios


Department of Informatics
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 2
Watermarking
Proof of ownership of digital data by
embedding copyright statements
Embedder
Digital
data
Key
Watermarked
digital
data
Detector
Digital data
(possibly
watermarked)
Key
Watermarked
Not watermarked
Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 3
Basic idea
Spatial domain watermarking
+not robust against compression and
filtering
+should have lowpass characteristics

Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 4
Robustness against attacks (filtering,
compression)
Advantages of Transform Based
Watermarking
+Watermark construction having specific
frequency content
Watermark perceptibility
+Transform properties accelerates the
detection (in geometrically distorted data)
Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 5
Watermarking in spatial /
transform domain
Transform
Signal
Perceptual
analysis

Watermark
Inverse
Transform
Watermarked Signal
Signal
Perceptual
analysis

Watermark
Watermarked Signal
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Watermark construction

1-D sequence 2-D sequence
key
Random
generator
1-D sequence of
+real numbers ~N(0,1)
or
+1
Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 7
Watermark Embedding


Modifications in the low frequencies cause visible
changes in the spatial domain
Compression and filtering affects the high frequencies
of the transform and destroys the watermark

The watermark is added in the middle
frequencies because
Transform
Signal
Perceptual
analysis

Watermark
Inverse
Transform
Watermarked Signal
Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 8
Low
frequencies
Medium
frequencies
High
frequencies
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Watermark Detection



Correlation is used in most of the methods.
Transform
Signal
Watermark
Correlation
Detector
output
{
0, not
watermarked
1, watermarked
Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 10
Transform Domains
+Discrete cosine transform (DCT)
+Discrete Fourier transform (DFT)
+Fourier-Mellin transform
+Discrete Wavelet transform (DWT)
+Fourier descriptors
Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 11
DCT (discrete cosine transform)
1 2
1 2
1 1
1 1 2 2
1 2 1 2
0 0
1 2
(2 1) (2 1)
( , ) 4 ( , )cos cos
2 2
N N
n n
n k n k
X k k x n n
N N
t t

= =
+ +
=

1 2 1 2
( , ), x n n N N
1 2
1 2
1 1
1 1 2 2
1 2 1 1 2 2 1 2
0 0
1 2 1 2
1
1 1
1 1
2
2 2
2 2
1 (2 1) (2 1)
( , ) ( ) ( ) ( , )cos cos
2 2
1/ 2 0
( )
1 1 1
1/ 2 0
( )
1 1 1
N N
k k
n k n k
x n n w k w k X k k
N N N N
k
w k
k N
k
w k
k N
t t

= =
+ +
=
=

=

s s

=

s s

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Watermark embedded in DCT (discrete cosine
transform) domain
Advantages
Real output
Resistance against JPEG compression
Fast transform (especially when it is used in
compressed images)
Disadvantages
Not robust against geometric attacks



DCT (discrete cosine transform)
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DCT can be performed at
entire image

t, t`, original and watermarked signal
W watermark, a embedding power

A pseudorandom sequence of
real numbers is embedded in
the frequency domain
The coefficients of the NN
DCT are reordered in a vector
using a zig-zag scan.
Watermark is embedded
according to:
t`= t + a | t |w
Piva
et al.
Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 14
}

88

Select a block (pseudorandomly)
Select a pair of midfrequency coefficients
Modify the sign of their difference according to a
bit value


Select a block (Gaussian
network classifier decision)
Using a DCT constraint or a
circular DCT detection region
modify the middle frequency
coefficients



Koch
et al.
DCT can be performed at each 88 block

Bors and Pitas
Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 15
Watermark embedded in DFT (discrete Fourier transform)
domain
Advantages
Resistance against frequency attacks
Properties that accelerates the detection of geometrically
distorted image
Disadvantages
Complex output
Calculating complexity (when size is not power of 2)



DFT (discrete Fourier transform)
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Rotation in spatial domain causes rotation of the
Fourier domain by the same angle
Circular shift in the spatial domain does not effect
the magnitude of DFT
Scaling in the spatial domain causes inverse scaling
in the frequency domain
Cropping in the spatial domain changes the
frequency sampling step


Discrete Fourier transform properties
DFT (discrete Fourier transform)
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Watermark: a ring that is separated in sectors and
homocentric circles. The same value 1 or 1 is assigned
in each watermark circular sector.
ring middle frequencies
sectors resistant in slight rotation (3 degrees)
full search only for degrees 6k, k=1,2,,29
Correlation for many
frequency steps can detect
the watermark in a cropped image


Solachidis
and Pitas
DFT (discrete Fourier transform)
Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 18
Watermark embedded in FMT (Fourier-Mellin
transform)
Advantages
Properties that accelerates the detection of
geometrically distorted image
Disadvantages
Complex output
Very big calculating complexity (2 fourier transforms
logpolar tranform)
Not very accurate



Fourier Mellin transform
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Cartesian
coordinates
Log polar
coordinates
Fourier Mellin transform
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DFT
Amplitude resistant in
translation
Cartesian Log polar
(x,y) (,), x=e

cos(), y=e

sin()
Scaling and rotation equals translation
Rotation by an angle (x,y) (,+)
Scaling by a factor (x, y) (+log(),)
DFT
Amplitude resistant in translation,rotation, scaling

3 steps
Ruanaidh et
al.
Fourier Mellin transform
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Watermark embedded in wavelet domain
Spatial localization
Frequency spreading

Average values from each
correlator from all the
sub bands and levels

Tsekeridou
and Pitas
DWT Discrete wavelet transform
Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 22
Let L be such a closed polygonal line that consists
of N vertices, each of them represented as a pair of
coordinates (x
i
,y
i
).
We construct the complex signal:



1 1
2 2
n n
x iy
x iy
z
x iy
+
(
(
+
(
=
(
(
+
(

Watermark embedded in the Fourier descriptors of a
polygonal line
Solachidis
et al.
Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 23
A watermark W is added in the magnitude |Z| of the
Fourier coefficients of z
|Z |=|Z| pW , p power of the watermark
Translation affects only the DC term Z(0). By not adding
watermark to the DC term we obtain watermark immunity to
translation.
Rotation by an angle results in phase shift of the Fourier
descriptors. The magnitude of the FD remains invariant.
Scaling by a factor a results in the scaling of the FD
magnitude by the same factor. Normalized correlation
overcomes this effect.
Fourier descriptors
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Inversion of the traversal direction results in the same
indexing reversal in the FD:
Zinvertion(k)=Z(N-1-k)
Solutions:
Construct a symmetrical watermark
Always embed the watermark in the same direction
(e.g. clockwise). During detection determine the traversal
direction and invert it, if needed.
Change of the polygonal line starting point affects only the
phase of the FD.
Reflection (mirroring) causes FD magnitude indexing
reversal:
|Zreflection(k)|=|Z(N-1-k)|
Solution: Construct a symmetrical watermark.

Fourier descriptors
Department of Informatics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki 25
References
A.Piva, M.Barni, E.Bartolini, and V.Cappellini DCT-based watermarking recovering
without resorting to the uncorrupted original imagein Proc. IEEE Int.Conf.Image
Processing (ICIP), vol 1, Santa Barbara, CA, 1997, p.520
E.Koch, J.Rindfrey, and J.Zhao, Copyright protection for multimedia data, Digital media
and electronic publishing, 1996
A.Bors and I.Pitas, Image watermarking using DCT domain constraints in
Proc.Int.Conf.Image Processing (ICIP), Lausanne, Switzerland, Sept.1996
V. Solachidis and I. Pitas, Circularly symmetric watermark embedding in 2-D DFT
domain, IEEE Int. Conf. on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP'99),
Phoenix, Arizona, USA, Vol.6, pages 3469-3472, 15-19 March 1999
J.J.K. Ruanaidh, F.M.Boland, and O.Sinnen, Rotation, scale and translation invariant
spread spectrum digital image watermarking, Signal Processing (Special Issue on
watermarking), vol.66, no.3, pp.303-318, May 1998
S. Tsekeridou, I. Pitas, Embedding Self-Similar Watermarks in the Wavelet Domain , 2000
IEEE Int. Conf. on Acoustics, Systems and Signal Processing (ICASSP'00), vol. IV, pp.
1967-1970, Istanbul, Turkey, 5-9 June 2000
V. Solachidis, N. Nikolaidis and I. Pitas, Watermarking Polygonal Lines Using Fourier
Descriptors, IEEE Int. Conf. on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP'2000),
Istanbul, Turkey, vol. IV, pp 1955-1958, 5-9 June 2000
S.Katzenbeisser, F.Petitcolas, Information hiding techniques for steganography and digital
watermarking, Artech house