Complex Wavelet-Domain Image Watermarking Algorithm Using -Norm Function-Based Quantization

Digital watermarking is an efficient and promising means to protect intellectual properties. Based on growing attention on the intellectual property, protection of the product ownership becomes extremely important and necessary. In this paper, a quantization-based image watermarking method is proposed using dual-tree complex wavelet transform (DT-CWT) and the -norm function. To enhance the robustness, the watermark is embedded in the DT-CWT domain of the high-frequency sub-band images by using the -norm function. The performance of the proposed scheme is investigated in terms of image quality (peak signal-to-noise ratio or PSNR) and robustness (bit error ratio or BER). Experimental results show that the proposed method is robust against noise attack, filtering, JPEG compression, amplitude scaling and gain attack with a good invisibility.