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Encryption domain content-based image retrieval and convolution through a block-based transformation algorithm

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Abstract

In this paper, we propose a block-based transformation algorithm to achieve the purpose of image content protection. More importantly, under the proposed image content protection framework, image retrieval and image convolution can also be performed directly on the content-protected images. As a consequence, not only secure image storage and communication are accomplished, but also the computation efforts can be fully distributed, thus making it a perfect match for nowadays popular cloud computing technology. Security analyses are conducted to prove that the proposed image encryption scheme offers certain degree of security in both statistical and computational aspects. Although a higher data confidentiality may be reached by adopting traditional cryptographic encryption algorithms, we believe it could be accepted by ordinary users with general image storage needs, since extra functionalities, i.e. content-based image retrieval and image convolution, are provided. Experimental results also demonstrate the decent performance of the proposed encryption domain image retrieval and convolution with acceptable storage overhead.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the anonymous reviewers’ spending valuable time reviewing and giving out useful comments. We also would like to thank Nick Leaf for proof-reading the paper and providing suggestions on how to address the reviewers’ comments. This work was supported in part by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan under the grant NSC 101-2221-E-011-150-MY3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei City, Taiwan, China

    Jia-Kai Chou & Chuan-Kai Yang

  2. Chungyu Institute of Technology, Keelung City, Taiwan, China

    Hsing-Ching Chang

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  1. Jia-Kai Chou
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Correspondence to Jia-Kai Chou.

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Chou, JK., Yang, CK. & Chang, HC. Encryption domain content-based image retrieval and convolution through a block-based transformation algorithm. Multimed Tools Appl 75, 13805–13832 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-015-2917-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-015-2917-6

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