Robust image watermarking technique using triangular regions and Zernike moments for quantization based embedding

Abstract

Watermarking is a tool to embed information in the image to provide authentication, copyrights protection, copy control, etc. Some watermarking techniques are robust to intentional /unintentional attacks on the watermarked image. In this study, we propose a robust watermarking approach that can resist geometrical attacks. The proposed technique exploits both the robust image feature points and local Zernike moments for embedding the information. Delaunay tessellation is employed to divide image into distinct triangular segments based on robust features. These features are identified using Harris detector. Zernike moments are calculated for each selected triangular segment, and then the watermark is embedded in the magnitude of Zernike moments using dither modulation. It can be observed from the experimental results that by using proposed approach, the watermark can be detected even in the presence of geometrical distortion, i.e. rotation, cropping, and scaling, and JPEG compression attack.