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Improved reversible data hiding scheme employing dual image-based least significant bit matching for secure image communication using style transfer

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Abstract

The increasing use of multimedia applications often makes the information prone to leakage and makes the user's privacy at risk. The information hiding technique is mainly used to secure multimedia communication/information by modifying the secret information in a way that makes it useless for an unintended user. In this way, the secret information is secured from unauthorized access. To create a mosaic image, initially, a style transfer is applied using the Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architecture. The style transfer alters the style of an image using another image still preserving the original content. The CNN’S optimization problem is to optimize the content loss, style loss, and total variation loss done using an Archimedes Optimization Algorithm (AOA). The AOA algorithm also alters the block in the target image by selecting an appropriate tile in the secret image. The tile fitting information is randomly inserted into the selected pixels using an improved dual image-based LSB matching (DILSBM) scheme. The DILSBM scheme can retrieve both the secret and target images from the mosaic image by offering a high PSNR value. The proposed DILSBM and CNN optimized AOA architecture is primarily intended to provide high capacity, improved visual quality, and solve the source image selection problem. The feasibility of the proposed technique can be observed from the experimental analysis where it is analyzed using different performance metrics such as Embedding Rate, Structural Similarity Method (SSIM), and peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Information and Communication, Anna University, Chennai, India

    S. Jaya Prakash

  2. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Idhaya Engineering College for Women, Chinnasalem, Tamilnadu, India

    S. Jaya Prakash

  3. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, KalaignarKarunanidhi Institute of Technology, Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, India

    K. Mahalakshmi

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Contributions

JPS agreed on the content of the study. JPS and KM collected all the data for analysis. JPS agreed on the methodology. JPS and KM completed the analysis based on the agreed steps. Results and conclusions are discussed and written together. The author read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to S. Jaya Prakash.

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Jaya Prakash, S., Mahalakshmi, K. Improved reversible data hiding scheme employing dual image-based least significant bit matching for secure image communication using style transfer. Vis Comput 38, 4129–4150 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00371-021-02285-1

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