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Authentication and Data Hiding Using a Hybrid ROI-Based Watermarking Scheme for DICOM Images

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Abstract

Authenticating medical images using watermarking techniques has become a very popular area of research, and some works in this area have been reported worldwide recently. Besides authentication, many data-hiding techniques have been proposed to conceal patient’s data into medical images aiming to reduce the cost needed to store data and the time needed to transmit data when required. In this paper, we present a new hybrid watermarking scheme for DICOM images. In our scheme, two well-known techniques are combined to gain the advantages of both and fulfill the requirements of authentication and data hiding. The scheme divides the images into two parts, the region of interest (ROI) and the region of non-interest (RONI). Patient’s data are embedded into ROI using a reversible technique based on difference expansion, while tamper detection and recovery data are embedded into RONI using a robust technique based on discrete wavelet transform. The experimental results show the ability of hiding patient’s data with a very good visual quality, while ROI, the most important area for diagnosis, is retrieved exactly at the receiver side. The scheme also shows some robustness against certain levels of salt and pepper and cropping noise.

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Acknowledgment

This work is supported by Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation through eScienceFund grant 01-01-05-SF0114 and Ministry of Higher Education through Fundamental Research Grant Scheme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Engineering Campus, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 14300 Nibong Tebal, Seberang Perai Selatan, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

    Osamah M. Al-Qershi & Bee Ee Khoo

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  1. Osamah M. Al-Qershi
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  2. Bee Ee Khoo
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Correspondence to Osamah M. Al-Qershi.

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Al-Qershi, O.M., Khoo, B.E. Authentication and Data Hiding Using a Hybrid ROI-Based Watermarking Scheme for DICOM Images. J Digit Imaging 24, 114–125 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10278-009-9253-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10278-009-9253-1

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