Journal of Information & Computational Science 9: 12 (2012) 33913399

Available at http://www.joics.com

Digital Image Watermarking Algorithm Resistant to

Geometric Attacks in Wavelet Domain
Xiao Zou ,

Kai Li

School of Computer and Communication, Lanzhou University of Technology, Lanzhou 730050, China

Abstract
To solve the sensitive problem of signal processing and geometric distortion of digital image watermarking,
an image watermarking algorithm against geometric attacks was proposed in the paper. After
decomposing the whole image with 3 level of discrete wavelet transform and transforming the watermark
image by Arnold shuing, embed the watermark data to the media frequency coecients of wavelet
domain according to the conceal quality of Human Visual System (HVS); and extract two invariant
centroids as factors to correcting geometric transformation by using the theories of invariant centroid,
the watermarked image could be corrected. The experimental results show that the algorithm is robust
to general signal processing and geometric attack such as rotation, scaling and translation.
Keywords: Digital Image Watermarking; Discrete Wavelet Transform; Invariant Centroid; Arnold
Shuing; Geometric Attacks

Introduction

So far the digital watermark techniques have been investigated more than a decade, but there
are a lot of problems for applications. One of the reasons is the present image watermarking
algorithms can only resist common signal attacks such as image compression and ltering [1],
whereas these algorithms cannot perform eectively for geometrical attacks such as rotation, scaling, translation and shearing [2, 3]. At present digital image watermarking algorithm based
on the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) [4] have attracted widespread concerns. Although a
lot of studies [5] showed a certain robustness of the DWT to resist common signal processing, the
resistance of geometrical attacks cannot be achieved eectually. The inuence of the geometrical
attacks to digital image watermark is on the watermark signal which still exists in the image but
the position has been changed. So how to achieve a synchronization of the watermark detecting
and embedding is still a dicult problem to be solved. Yuan et al. [6] summarized typical digital
watermarking algorithms resistant to geometric attacks, and compared the algorithms from theoretical analysis and experimental verication. Sang et al. [7] proposed a new algorithm to achieve

Corresponding author.
Email address: zouxiao@lut.cn (Xiao Zou).

15487741 / Copyright 2012 Binary Information Press

October 15, 2012

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the standardization of image and the watermark embedding based on geometric moments. However, this method is only available to the watermark embedding in the domain with invariance to
geometric attacks, and is not robust to change the content of image or the attack of the image geometric moment. Li et al. [8] used the image feature points to achieve watermark synchronization.
Li [9] used a spatial domain watermarking algorithm, in which watermark embedding is repeated
in image block, to embed watermark in image gray value, but the robustness of this approach is
poor. Kaewkamnerd et al. [10] proposed an algorithm using the multi-scale image registration
method, in which the watermark is embedded in each high frequency sub-band, to detect geometric transformations experienced by correcting watermark image. Although this method can
resist geometric attacks, it does not have strong robustness to general image processing such as
compression.
The objective of this article is to develop a wavelet domain based image watermarking algorithm with resistance to geometric attacks through which the sensitivity of the digital image
watermarks to signal processing and geometric distortions can be reduced. First a three-level
wavelet decomposition of the carrier image is carried out. According to the masking characteristics of the Human Visual System (HVS), watermark information scrambled by Arnold is
embedded through modifying the wavelet coecients located in intermediate frequency region
after three-level wavelet decomposition, so that the watermark invisibility and robustness by this
method can be ensured better than conventional method and then two centroids of the watermark
image can be extracted to revise the geometric distortion experienced by the watermark image
during detecting watermark. The algorithm is available to correct not only the scale attack of
the watermark image in length and breadth, but also the geometric distortion in dierent vertical
and horizontal aspect ratio scaling. A meaningful binary black and white image is chosen as
the watermark information, and the Arnold transformation is used to scramble this information
so as to increase the condentiality of the watermark information. The numerical experimental
results show that the watermark in our proposed algorithm has a good invisibility and can be
still detected eectively after experiencing geometric transformation such as rotation, scaling,
translation and common image processing, and the robustness of the proposed algorithm is very
strong.

2
2.1

Arnold and Wavelet Transformation of the Image

Arnold Scrambling of the Watermark Image

The transformation for a square digital image is

[
] [
][ ]
x
1
m
x
=
mod N

y
n mn + 1
y

(1)

where (x, y) is a pixel position before image replacement, (x , y ) is a pixel position after replacement, m and n are positive integers, and N is the length of a square image. This transformation
is the Arnold transformation.
Applying the Arnold transformation to a digital image [11], the image pixel distribution is
changed through changing image pixel position. Using the Eq. (1) to implement iterative operation for image, the image Scrambling is achieved at a step where the status is dierent from the

X. Zou et al. / Journal of Information & Computational Science 9: 12 (2012) 33913399

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original image. Arnold transformation is periodic, and it will return to a status same as the original image after a cycle. Dierent m, n, N corresponding to dierent period for Arnold mapping,
it can always return to the original image when reaching to a certain iteration number. In this
paper a 3232 watermarking image as shown in Fig. 1 is adopted for scrambling transformation,
and the iteration number is k. m, n, N and k are saved as the secret key to restore the scrambling
watermark image.

Fig. 1: Arnold scrambling of an image

2.2

Wavelet Transformation of a Carrier Image

Wavelet transform for image processing is to decompose the original image into dierent space
and frequency sub-band images. After a image is decomposed using a two-dimensional discrete
wavelet transform, four sub-band images are generated, i.e., low frequency approximation subband image LL, level detail sub-band image HL, vertical detail sub-band image LH and diagonal
detail sub-band image HH. Among these images, LL concentrates the most energy of the image,
and this decomposition process can be repeated for LL part. A three-level wavelet decomposition
of the image is shown in Fig. 2.
LL3 LL3
HL2
LL3 LL3
HL1
LH2

HH2

LH1

HH1

Fig. 2: Three-level wavelet decomposition

According to the characteristics of the image wavelet decomposition, low frequency band LL3
is the best approximation of the original image at maximum scale and minimum resolution which
decided by wavelet transform decomposition levels, where most of the energy is concentrated in
this low frequency band. High frequency band series are the image details at dierent scales and
resolutions.

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3
3.1

X. Zou et al. / Journal of Information & Computational Science 9: 12 (2012) 33913399

Extraction of the Invariant Centroid and Parameter

Correction of the Geometric Distortion
Extraction of the Invariant Centroid

For watermark detection algorithmsynchronizing watermark signal is the key to resist geometric attacks such as rotation, scaling and translation, and then the watermark embedding and
extracting can be able to done at the same position. If a xed point extracted from image as the
watermark detection correction parameter estimates, then the coordinate change of this point by
geometric attacks will reect the geometry changes of watermark image.
For accurate estimation the change of image before and after the geometric attacks, it is necessary to nd a xed pixel point which is not be aected by geometric transformation and other
conventional image signal processing. A regional center C = (Cx , Cy ) of image I(x, y) is calculated
by the following formula:

Cx =
(x, y)x Cy =
(x, y)y
(2)
x

I(x, y)
is the density function of the image, x, y R2 . R2 is a region which
where (x, y) =
I(x, y)
x

belongs to I(x, y). Hu [12] proposed a method of using iterative method to produce invariant
centroid point. Firstly, the original image I through low-pass lter, calculating the center of mass
C0 for I using the Eq. (2). Constitute a new circular area with radius r and center of a circle
C0 and calculate the centroid C1 for this new circular area. And then tm , tn is as the center of a
new circle with radius r. Then the centroid C2 of this new circular area is calculated. This cycle
continues until the intersection in a circular invariant centroid point of termination, this is for
the invariant centroid, remember the point Cr .
In this paper, two invariant centroids tm and tn are extracted using two dierent radiuses, and
the vector with two invariant centroidts is tm tn .

3.2

Parameter Correction of Geometric Distortion

Using the above invariant centroid extraction method, two invariant centroid point extracted in
the original watermark, denoted by tm , tn , Two corresponding invariant centroid points denoted
by tm , tn extracted by using the same parameters on the distortion of the image to be detected
may be invariant centroid point extraction.
3.2.1

Image Rotation Correction Algorithm

The vector tm , tn is obtained by two invariant centroids tm and tn of the original watermarking image, rotation angle , distortion image watermark extracted two corresponding invariant centroid
points tm , tn composed of the vector tm tn . Calculation angle of vector tm tn and tm tn . Then
the vector tm tn of original image rotate and , then received vector t1m t1n , t2m t2n , compared
|t1m t1n tm tn | and |t2m t2n tm tn |, if the former is larger, then = , then rotation angle for the
image is = , else = .

X. Zou et al. / Journal of Information & Computational Science 9: 12 (2012) 33913399

3.2.2

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Image Scaling Correction Algorithm

Relative coordinates of two invariant centroid points tm , tn in original watermarking image, were
(xm , ym ) and (xn , yn ), while invariant centroid points tm , tn in scaling distortion image watermark

were (xm , ym
) and (xn , yn ). Use two invariant centroid relative position to get parameter estima
tion of zoom factor b for image, in which, a = |xm xn | / |xm xn |, b = |ym
yn | / |ym yn |. If
a = b, use horizontal scaling coecients a to correct the distortion of the watermark image; if
a = b, rst, use horizontal scaling coecients a to correct the distortion of the watermark image,
then use longitudinal scaling coecients b to correct the distortion of the horizontal corrected
watermark image.
3.2.3

Image Translation Correction Algorithm

Two invariant centroid point extracted in the original watermark, one point tm coordinate is
(xm , ym ), the corresponding invariant centroid point extracted in translational distortion of wa
termark image is tm , which coordinate is (xm , ym
). Then translation variation of test watermark

image can be obtained, it is: x = xm xm , y = ym

ym .

The Algorithm of a Watermark Embedding and Detection

If the original image is 256256 gray image, while embedded watermark information is 3232
meaningful two value image. According to the human visual system HVS knowable, eye on
the low-frequency part of the sensitivity stronger than the high-frequency part. Embedding the
watermark in the low frequency sub-band which is robust, but easy to inuence the invisibility
of watermark, while embedding the watermark in the high frequency sub-bands, the watermark
invisibility is good but susceptible to reduce the robustness of watermarking by compression and
other signal processing operation. In order to better balance the invisibility and robustness of
image, this paper embedded watermark information in media frequency coecient of wavelet
transform.

4.1

Watermark Embedding Algorithm

(1) Use Haar wavelet, the images A be done 3 level discrete wavelet transform, to produce LL3 ,
HL3 , LH3 , HH3 and so on ten sub-band.
(2) Use ascending order for the intermediate region HL3 , LH3 of image, get the sequence C,
and note the location corresponding to order: ind(i).
(3) Use the methods described in Section 2.1, to Arnold scrambling the watermark information,
then obtain scrambling watermark information W .
(4) Using the multiplicative rule, large absolute value coecient with C embed in steps (3),
then get the watermark information W .
ci = ci (1 + wi )

(3)

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where the size of determines the intensity of the image frequency modied by the watermark
signal.
(5) According to corresponding sequence ind(i) in step (2), the modied media frequency sequence ci is assigned to corresponding location of original intermediate frequency regions HL3 ,
LH3 .
(6) Use the modied wavelet coecients in step (5) by discrete inverse wavelet transform to
get image embedded with the watermark information.
(7) Extract the two invariant centroid points tm , tn of the images embedded watermark information, and obtain the coordinates and corresponding radius r1 , r2 of the two points as geometric
distortion correction key for watermark detection.

4.2

Watermark Detection Algorithm

(1) Use the methods described in Section 3.2 as well as the key of geometric distortion of the
watermark image rotation, scaling, translation correction.
(2) Use DWT for watermarking image A with geometric distortion correction to get LL3 , HL3 ,
LH3 , HH3 and so on ten sub-bands.
(3) According to the corresponding position sequence ind(i) and the embedded watermark
sequence size, a embedding position of intermediate frequency regions HL3 , LH3 in watermark
image is determined, and embedded watermark sequence ci is obtained.
(4) Use the Eq. (4), to get scrambling watermark information W .
Wi = (ci /ci 1)/

(4)

(5) Use the saved Arnold scrambling key to do periodic transformation for W , then get the
extracted watermark image W .

The Results of Experiment and the Algorithm Performance Analysis

In order to verify the performance and feasibility of our proposed algorithm, Matlab was used to
do the simulation. The simulation experiment use Lenna (256256) gray image as the original
carrier image, Chinese characters (watermark of the Lanzhou University of Science
and Technology) (3232) as the embedded watermark image to do a series of experiments.
From the visual angle, because of the invisibility characteristic of watermark, we cannot feel
the presence of the watermark even if compare together with the original image, thus ensuring
basic imperceptibility requirements of the embedding watermarking process. Extraction eect
is very good before the watermark, as shown in Fig. 3, (a) is the original carrier image, (b) is
the watermark image embedded watermark, (c) is the original watermarking image, (d) is the
watermark image extracted.
For this category, method which the watermark signal is embedded into the host signal transform domain coecients, geometric attack is the most simple and very eective, while a lot of

X. Zou et al. / Journal of Information & Computational Science 9: 12 (2012) 33913399

(a) Carrier image

(b) Watermark image embedded watermark

(c) Original watermarking image

(d) Watermark image extracted

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Fig. 3: Extracting results embedding watermark algorithm

literature have no eective method to solve the problem at present. This paper uses the invariant
centroid to do geometric correction for distortion watermark image. From the experiments we
can see, this method can correct geometric distortion eectively, as shown in Table 1 and Table
2.
Table 1: Rotation, scaling, translation test
Rotation

Rotation estimation

Scaling

Scaling estimation

Translation

Translation estimation

10

10.0207

0.5

0.4933

(0, 10)

(0.0001, 10.0002)

30

29.6820

0.8

0.7992

(10, 0)

(9.9998, 0.0001)

90

89.9985

1.5

1.4714

(5, 10)

(4.9720, 9.7384)

145

145.7537

2.0

1.9480

(5, 10)

(5.0375, 10.0320)

Table 2: Unequal scaling test

Horizontal scaling

Vertical scaling

Horizontal scaling Estimation

Vertical scaling estimation

0.5

0.9887

0.4964

0.5

0.4977

0.9842

0.5

0.8

0.4931

0.7850

1.5

1.8

1.4769

1.7529

In this paper, NC (Normalized Correlation) value is used to normalize the similarity in order
to reect similarity degree between the original watermark and detected watermark. According
to the Eq. (5), NC value of W and original watermarking image is computed.

W (i, j)W (i, j)

i j

(5)
NC =
W (i, j)2
i

Fig. 4 shows the watermarking image (extraction of two invariant centroids, marked with *).
The watermark image embedded watermark is compressed with factor80, and is reduced to 0.5
times the original, then is rotated 25 degrees, as shown in Fig. 5. After using invariant centroid

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correction, extraction result of the image watermark is shown in Fig. 6. As can be seen, a good
robustness of digital watermarking algorithm for compression and geometric distortion.

Fig. 5: The distortion of a wa-

Fig. 4: Watermark image

Fig. 6: The extracted watermark

termark image

The algorithm in this paper is used for a series of experiments, such as common image processing, the rotation, scaling, translation and other geometric attacks. The experimental results
are shown in Table 3. The eective judgment condition of watermark extraction is NC>0.5, the
algorithm can resist attacks as listed in Table 3. Thus the proposed algorithm possesses strong
robustness.
In order to further verify the feasibility of the proposed method, this method compared accordingly with some similar schemes, results as shown in Table 4.
Table 3: Results of image watermarking resistant to attacks
Attack type Compression factor 80 Compression factor 30

Translation (10, 20)

Translation (10, 15)

NC

0.9932

0.9826

0.8468

0.7750

Attack type

Gaussian noise 0.3

33 median ltering

Enlarged 1.5 times

Shrunken 0.7 times

NC

0.8812

0.8669

0.9037

Attack type Rotated by 30 degree

NC

0.7344

Rotation 135

0.7853

Rotated integer times of 90 Left under shear 1010

0.7327

0.8936

0.7335

Table 4: Comparison of the NC value among dierent image watermarking algorithms

Compression factor 80

Enlarged 1.5 times

Translation (10, 20)

Rotation 30

This paper algorithm

0.9932

0.9037

0.8468

0.7344

DWT

0.9837

0.4327

0.3592

0.1137

DWT IC

0.9814

0.8916

0.8279

0.7233

Conclusions

This paper presents a robust image watermarking algorithm based on wavelet domain for resisting to geometrical transform. According to Human Visual System (HVS) masking properties, in
the premise of invisible, this method improve the embedding watermark information at a maximum limit, embedded watermark information in media frequency region of images used 3 level
DWT transform; using Arnold transform to scram watermark image and enhance the security
of watermark; using the invariant centroid point principle, extraction of two invariant centroid

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3399

point, used to correct watermark image watermark detection through geometric distortion, thus
able to accurately extract the watermark. The experimental results show that, the algorithm of
watermark has good imperceptibility of watermark image, and through such as rotation, scaling,
translation and other geometric transformations can be eectively detected. This algorithm can
also be the watermark image through vertical and horizontal scaling and aspect ratio of dierent
scaling distortion correction; at the same time watermark embedding algorithm is based on the
wavelet domain, the compression, ltering and noise and other common image processing and has
good robustness.

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