Title: Wavelet-based watermarking scheme using filter parametrisation for medical images

Authors: G. Thirugnanam, M. Natarajan, P. Mangaiyarkarasi, S. Arulselvi

Addresses: Department of Instrumentation Engineering, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar 608002, India. ' Department of Instrumentation Engineering, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar 608002, India. ' Department of Instrumentation Engineering, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar 608002, India. ' Department of Instrumentation Engineering, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar 608002, India

Abstract: Medical image watermarking is a special subcategory of image watermarking in the sense that images have special requirements. Watermarked medical images should not differ perceptually from their original counterparts because clinical reading of images must not be affected. In this paper, a robust watermarking scheme for medical images using self-reference technique is proposed. By modifying original image in wavelet transform domain and embedding watermark in different values between original image and its reference image, the proposed scheme is robuster than spatial domain watermarking. To improve robustness of this scheme, the filter coefficients are obtained by filter parametrisation technique. Moreover, watermark extraction does not require original image, so it is more practical in real applications. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme provides not only good image quality, but also robust against various attacks like noise addition, filtering and cropping.

Keywords: watermarking; filter parametrisation; medical engineering; wavelet transform; wavelets; medical images; self-reference; image secutiry; image protection; noise addition; filtering; cropping; watermark extraction.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMEI.2009.026811

International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics, 2009 Vol.1 No.4, pp.435 - 444

Published online: 26 Jun 2009 *

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