A reversible information hiding scheme based on vector quantization

Abstract

In this paper, we present a novel reversible information hiding scheme based on vector quantization (VQ) technique. First, VQ technique is used to encode the host image to form an index table. In the embedding phase, what the secret is hidden into the index table depends on the group id including the most closed codeword. And then, the modified index table is generated. In order to restore the original, we develop a flipping index table according to the original index table and the modified one. Finally, the stego-image could be constructed by combining the modified index table with the flipping one as well. Experimental results show that the performance of the proposed scheme is better than other VQ-based information hiding scheme in terms of the image quality and the distortion of the stego-image. Besides, in the proposed scheme, the original index table of the host image could be restored completely. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.