Reversible data hiding for depth maps using the depth no-synthesis-error model

When embedding hidden data in 3D images, conventional reversible data hiding methods, which are designed for 2D gray and color images, can be applied to color and depth maps. However, directly applying these methods to depth maps may cause synthesis errors and lead to visual artifacts in the rendered virtual views. Two novel reversible data hiding methods based on the depth no-synthesis-error (D-NOSE) model are proposed to embed hidden data in the depth maps of 3D images. The proposed methods can preserve the quality of the rendered virtual view and achieve substantially higher embedding capacity. Experimental results show that the proposed methods achieve better performance than the existing state-of-the-art methods in terms of both embedding capacity and the quality of the rendered virtual views.