An Overview of Reversible Data Hiding Schemes based on Difference Expansion Technique

Reversible data hiding is a type of data hiding techniques whereby the host image can be recovered exactly. Being lossless makes this technique suitable for medical and military applications. Difference expansion (DE) is one of the most important techniques which are used for reversible data hiding. This technique received more attention over the years because of its high efficiency and simplicity. The aim of this paper is to present a review of reversible DE-based data hiding techniques proposed so far in order to define the purpose of DE-based data hiding, reflecting recent progress, and provide some research issues for the future. Many researchers tried to improve its performance in terms of hiding capacity and visual perceptibility. However, some of the modified techniques need more improvements to be applicable. DE technique is still a promising technique and it is expected that more serious trials to improve it will be revealed during the next few years.