Digital Image Watermarking Based on Mixed Error Correcting Code

In this paper, we present a novel technique based on a mixed Error Correcting Code (ECC)—the convolutional code and the repetition code to enhance the robustness of the embedded watermark. Before embedding, the binary watermark is scanned to one-dimension sequence and later inputted into the (3, 1, 2) convolutional encoder and (3, 1) repetition encoder frame by frame, which will improve the error correcting capability of decoder. The output code sequence is scanned to some matrixes as the new watermark messages. The watermarking is selected in low frequency band of the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and therefore it can resist the destruction of image processing. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate that the robustness of a watermark with mixed ECC is much higher than the traditional one just with repetition coding while suffering JPEG lossy compression, salt and pepper noise and center cutting processing.