A data hiding scheme using the varieties of pixel-value differencing in multimedia images

In this paper, a capacity promoting technique is proposed for embedding data in an image using pixel-value differencing (PVD). The PVD scheme embeds data by changing the difference value between two adjacent pixels so that more data is embedded into two pixels located in the edge area, than in the smooth area. In order to increase the embedding capacity, a new approach is proposed in this paper by searching edge area more flexibly. Instead of processing a pair of pixels at a time as proposed by Wu and Tsai, two pairs of pixels in a block are processed at the same time. In addition, we proposed a pixel-value shifting scheme to further increase the chances for embedding data. Our scheme exploits the edge areas more efficiently, thus leading to an increase in embedding capacity as shown by experimental results compared to Wu and Tsai's method. Also, the embedding result of our scheme passes the Fridrich et al.’s detection. Besides, according to the distribution of difference values, more practical range partitions are suggested for improving capacity.

Research highlights▶ A new approach is proposed in our scheme by searching edge area more flexibly based on pixel-value differencing (PVD). ▶ Instead of processing a pair of pixels at a time as proposed by past study, two pairs of pixels in a lock are processed at the same time in this scheme. ▶ Our scheme exploits the edge areas more efficiently, thus leading to an increase in embedding capacity.