An information hiding algorithm based on intra-prediction modes and matrix coding for H.264/AVC video stream

An information hiding algorithm based on intra-prediction modes and matrix coding is proposed for H.264/AVC video stream. It utilizes the block types and modes of intra-coded blocks to embed watermark. intra-4×44×4 coded blocks (I4-blocks) are divided into groups and two watermark bits are mapped to every three I4-blocks by matrix coding to map between watermark bit and intra-prediction modes. Since only the mode of an I4-block is changed for every two watermark bits, it can guarantee a high PSNR and slight bitrate increase after watermark embedding. Moreover, embedding position template is utilized to select candidate I4-blocks for watermark embedding, which further enhances the security of watermark information. Experimental results on several test sequences demonstrate that the proposed approach can realize blind extraction with real-time performance.