Abstract
Visual cryptography is to encrypt a secret image into some shares (transparencies) such that any qualified subset of the shares can recover the secret “visually.” The conventional definition requires that the revealed secret images are always darker than the backgrounds. We observed that this is not necessary, in particular, for the textual images.
In this paper, we proposed an improved definition for visual cryptography based on our observation, in which the revealed images may be darker or lighter than the backgrounds. We studied properties and obtained bounds for visual cryptography schemes based on the new definition. We proposed methods to construct visual cryptography schemes based on the new definition. The experiments showed that visual cryptography schemes based on our definition indeed have better pixel expansion in average.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
G. Ateniese, C. Blundo, A. De Santis and D. R. Stinson, Constructions and bounds for visual cryptography, In Proceedings of the 23rd International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming (ICALP 96), LNCS, Vol. 1099, Springer-Verlag (1996).
G. Ateniese, C. Blundo, A. De Santis and D. R. Stinson, Visual cryptography for general access structures, Information and Computation, Vol. 129, No.2 (1996) pp. 86–106.
G. Ateniese, C. Blundo, A. De Santis and D. R. Stinson, Extended capabilities for visual cryptography, Theoretical Computer Science, Vol. 250, No.1–2 (2001) pp. 143–161.
C. Blundo, A. De Santis and D. R. Stinson, On the contrast in visual cryptography schemes, Journal of Cryptology, to appear.
C. Blundo, P. D'Arco, A. De Santis and D. R. Stinson, Contrast optimal threshold visual cryptography Schemes, manuscript.
S. Droste, New results on visual cryptography, In Proceedings of Advances in Cryptology-CRYPTO 96, LNCS, Vol. 1109, Springer-Verlag (1996) pp. 401–415.
T. Hofmeister, M. Krause and H. U. Simon, Contrast-optimal k-out-of-n secret sharing schemes in visual cryptography, COCOON 97, LNCS, Vol. 1276, Springer-Verlag (1997).
T. Katoh and H. Imai, Some visual secret sharing schemes and their share size, In Proceedings of International Conferences on Cryptology and Information Security (1996) pp. 41–47.
K. Kim, J. Park and Y. Zheng, Human-machine identification using visual cryptography, In Proceedings of the 6th IEEE International Workshop on Intelligent Signal Processing and Communication Systems (1998) pp. 178–182.
K. Kobara and H. Imai, Limiting the visible space visual secret sharing schemes and their application to human identification, In Proceedings of Advances in Cryptology—ASIACRYPT 96, LNCS, Vol. 1163, Springer-Verlag (1996) pp. 185–195.
D. Naccache, Colorful cryptography—a purely physical secret-sharing scheme based on chromatic filters, In Coding and Information Integrity, French-Israeli Workshop (1994).
M. Naor and B. Pinkas, Visual authentication, In Proceedings of Advances in Cryptology—CRYPTO 97, LNCS, Vol. 1294 (1997) pp. 322–336.
M. Naor and A. Shamir, Visual cryptography, In Proceedings of Advances in Cryptology—EUROCRYPT 94, LNCS, Vol. 950, Springer-Verlag (1995) pp. 1–12.
M. Naor and A. Shamir, Visual cryptography II: improving the contrast via the cover base, CambridgeWorkshop on Cryptographic Protocols (1996). A full version is available at ftp://theory.lcs.mit.edu/pub/tcrypto/96-07.ps.
V. Rijmen and B. Preneel, Efficient colour visual encryption or shared colors of Benetton, presented at EUROCRYPT 96 Rump Session.
G.J. Simmons, W. Jackson and K. Martin, The geometry of shared secret schemes, Bulletin of the ICA, Vol. 1 (1991) pp. 71–88.
D.R. Stinson, Visual cryptography and threshold schemes, Dr. Dobb's Journal (1998).
E.R. Verheul and H. C. A. Van Tilborg, Constructions and properties of k-out-of-n visual secret sharing schemes, Designs, Codes and Cryptography, Vol. 11, No.2 (1997) pp. 179–196.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tzeng, WG., Hu, CM. A New Approach for Visual Cryptography. Designs, Codes and Cryptography 27, 207–227 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019939020426
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019939020426