Image Watermark Method Using Multiple Decoding Keys

In this paper, we propose an image watermark method using multiple decoding keys. The advantages of this method are that the multiple original images are reconstructed by using multiple decoding keys in the same watermark image, and that the quality of reconstructed images is clearly enhanced based on the idea of Walsh code without any side lobe components in the decoding process. The zero-padded original images, multiplied with random-phase pattern to each other, are Fourier transformed. Encoded images are then obtained by taking the real-valued data from these Fourier transformed images. The embedding images are obtained by the product of independent Walsh codes, and these spreaded phase-encoded images which are multiplied with new random-phase images. Also we obtain the decoding keys by multiplying these random-phase images with the same Walsh code images used in the embedding images. A watermark image is then made from the linear superposition of the weighted embedding images and a cover image, which is multiplied with a new independent Walsh code. The original image is simply reconstructed by the inverse-Fourier transform of the despreaded image of the multiplication between the watermark image and the decoding key. Computer simulations demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed watermark method with multiple decoding keys and a good robustness to the external attacks such as cropping and compression.