COMPARISON OF CRT-BASED DIGITAL IMAGE

WATERMARKING AND CRT-BASED ZERO

WATERMARKING IN DCT DOMAIN
Oke Afeez Adeshina1,2, Kazeem Alagbe Gbolagade1
1
Department of Computer Science, College of Information Technology, Kwara State University, Kwara
2
Information Technology Unit, Summit University, Offa, Kwara State.

Abstract: This paper focus on the investigation of traditional digital image watermarking with CRT and Zero
watermarking with CRT in the DCT domain. Performance analysis is done on the robustness, imperceptibility, data
embedding capacity and time of execution. Based on the result of the experiment the CRT with Zero Watermarking
provides better performance since there are no distortion with faster time of execution, however, it is still
susceptible to cropping attacks. Traditional CRT watermarking still has a high Tamper Assessment Function (TAF)
without any attack.

Keywords: Chinese Remainder Theorem, Discrete Cosine Transform, Digital Watermarking

1. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, due to the growth of information technology and since the
distribution of multimedia data via the internet became popular, there has been an increase
and continuous problems of copyright abuse and intellectual property (Begum & Uddin,
2020). These problems has motivated various researchers to create new methodologies for
Digital Watermarking. Digital watermarking is utilized as a means for information
security in copyright protection, data authentication, broadcast monitoring and secret
communication.
Digital watermarking consists of generating a watermark, embedding generated
watermark to the cover image, while extraction is the opposite of the previous process.
The process of embedding a watermark into a cover image mostly distorts the image in
some form and the rate of distortion is a function of watermark invisibility and robustness
(Hsu & Hu, 2020).
Zero Watermarking was proposed to solve the problems of image distortion as a
result of embedding. A connection is built between the original data and the watermark
(H. Kim, 2015). The use of Chinese Remainder Theorem (CRT) improves security and
robustness in Digital Watermarking (Patra, Kishore, & Bornand, 2011) and it is much
faster and computationally efficient than other methods such as SVD (H. K.-S. S. Kim,
 2011). CRT has been applied to both conventional and zero watermarking. This paper
compares the CRT based conventional digital watermarking and CRT based Zero
watermarking in the DCT domain in terms of robustness, imperceptibility and resistance
to attacks.
The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section 2 present preliminaries
based on the comparison. The methodology is presented in section 3. Experimental
results and discussions are presented in section 4. Finally the paper is concluded in
section 5.

2. PRELIMINARIES
Digital watermarking mainly consists of watermark embedding and watermark extraction
processes, prior to embedding, the process begins with generating watermark bits.
Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) is used with CRT in the embedding process.

A. CHINESE REMAINDER THEOREM: CRT was majorly applied to the

conversion of a Residue Number System (RNS) to its decimal or binary equivalent
(Ibrahim & Gbolagade, 2019). However, it has been applied to solve various
engineering problems. The main purpose of applying CRT to digital watermarking is
its added security during embedding of watermark bits (Patra, Phua, & Bornand,
2010).

By selecting a relatively prime numbers μ= { m1 , m2 , … . mn } and using CRT, a large

integer X can be represented by a set of smaller integers { r 1 , r 2 ,… . r n }. It is extremely

difficult to get back X without knowingμ. This property provides additional security
in this scheme.

Let { m1 , m2 } denote a pair-wise co-prime positive integer. The dynamic range M =m1 .m2 .
According to CRT for any given pair of positive integer {r 1 , r 2 }, where r 1 <m1 and r 2 <m2 , there
exist a unique integer X, such that X ¿ M. Let us first determine x 1∧x 2by:
x 1=M / m1=m2 (1)
x 2=M /m 2=m 1
Next find s1 and s2 such that:
( x 1 s1 ) mod m1=1 (2)

( x 2 s 2) mod m2=1
Then the Unique integer X can be found :
n

|
X = ∑ mi|m−1
1
i |m r i i |
N

The above can be simplified using (1) and (2) into:

X =( r 1 . x 1 s 1+r 2 . x 2 s 2 )
(3)

INVERSE CRT (FORWARD CONVERSION)

Using CRT, an integer X,0 ≤ X ≤ N −1, can be represented by a unique pair of integers { r 1 , r 2 },
where r 1 <m1 and r 2 <m 2 . The relationship between the variables is given below:

r 1= X mod m1 (4)
r 2= X mod m2

B. DISCETE COSINE TRANSFORM

A Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) is a technique in frequency domain that is widely applied to image
transformations adapted to compress JPEG images (Shiu, Lin, Jan, & Chang, 2018). The DCT belongs to
a family of 6 trigonometric transformation. The type 2 DCT transforms a block of image size N × N
having pixel intensities S ( n1 , n 2) into a transform array of coefficients ( k 1 , k 2 ), described by the following
equations:

N−1 N−1
S (k1 , k2 ) ¿
√ 4
N2
C (k1 ) C ( k2 ) ∑
n=0
∑ S ( n1 , n 2) cos
n=0
( π ( 22n+1N ) k ) cos( π ( 22n+N1) k )
1 2
(5)

1
Wherek 1, k 2,n1 , n 2=0,1 , … N −1 and C ( k )=
{ √2
,∧k <0
1 ,∧otherwise
S(k1,k2) and pixel (n1,n2) present a DCT coefficient at position (k1,k2) and a pixel value at position
(x1,x2) respectively. The DCT basis image can be computed using the transformation kernel, which is
same for both forward DCT and inverse DCT (IDCT) is given by:
4 C (k 1 )C (k 2 ) π (2 n1+ 1)k 1 π (2 n2 +1) k 2
Pixel ( n1 , n 2) =
√ N 2
cos
2N
cos
2N

C. ZERO WATERMARKING

Zero watermarking was proposed to solve the problems of image distortion during watermark
embedding (H. Kim, 2015), Zero watermarking involves the use of watermark from the host
image. The watermarked image has no difference from the original image, however, it is
protected in the database of Intellectual Property rights (IPR) also known as watermark
registration center.
The focus of zero watermarking is based on how to construct watermarking information
through the use of important features of the original image rather than how to embed the
watermarks.

3. METHOD

The purpose of this study is to compare the use of CRT based DCT traditional watermarking
algorithm and CRT based DCT zero watermarking algorithm. It will include the process of
generating watermark, embedding watermark, extraction and testing.

A. WATERMARK EMBEDDING: In traditional watermark algorithms, once the watermark

bit image is generated, CRT technique is used for embedding based (Patra et al., 2011). The
host image is divided into blocks of 8 X 8 pixels. The blocks are then converted into DCT
domain where watermark bits will be embedded.
The scheme applies CRT to the watermark at low frequency area of DCT coeffcients. Given the
value of X and r=2 for the set of , then m 1 ,m 2 are integers of set μ. The residues r 1 and r 2 can be
represented as:
d=|r 1−r 2|
And the maximum value of maximum value of d by taking the larger of two moduli m 1 and
m 2 and decrease by one
D=max { m1 , m2 }−1

Step to embed watermark

Step1: Select a random 8 × 8 block from the host image

Step2: Determine the coefficients block according to DCT conversion
Step3: Randomly select a watermark bit from the watermark information to embed into the block
Step 4: Randomly select a DCT coefficient X to be embedded in the block.
Step 5: let m 1∧m2 be the pair-wise co-prime number for CRT
Step 6: Determine x 1 and x 2 by applying inverse CRT (forward conversion) using (4)
Step 7: Determine D using (6) and d using (7)
D
Step 8: if the required condition to embed watermark bit ‘1’ i.e d ≥ is not satisfied, X is modified
8
until it is satisfied
D
Step 9: if the required condition to embed watermark bit ‘0’ i.e d < is not satisfied the X is modified
8
to X̀ until it is satisfied.
Step 10: Reconstruct the DCT block with the modified DCT coefficient X̀ and apply inverse DCT to the
block for reconstructing the watermark image block.
Step 11: Repeat steps 1-10 for the remaining of the blocks until all watermark information bits are
embedded.
From Patra [] the values 38, 55 and 107 were selected so that N in (1) remains within the dynamic range
of possible DCT coefficients.

CRT Embedding for Zero watermarking

The process of inserting a watermark into a host image is shown in figure 1. The host image only proofs
the key generation so it can be used in the extraction process. Blocks are extracted in a disorganized way.
The process of block selection uses a logistic function based on chaos theory, the value S generated in this
function i. Add the number N of blocks in the image to 0 ¿ N−1
Will generate one of the values. Logistic function Si+ 1=r S i ( 1−S i ¿ in the ith value Si, use ( i+1 ) th value
Si+ 1 where r is the growth rate S0 denotes a given initial value.
Steps to apply CRT to Zero watermarking according to (S. Kim, 2011) obtained by selecting each DCT
block and applying DCT transform to the selected image block is as follows:
Step 1: Divide the image into 8 × 8 pixel blocks
Step 2: For each block apply DCT and select the DC and 3 low frequency AC coefficients of a block to
extract the features of the host.
Step 3: Set the private key K to blank.
Step 4: Let m 1∧m2 be the pairwise co-prime numbers to be used in CRT with values 38 and 107,
respectively in case of DC, otherwise m 1∧m2 are selected as 38 and 55, respectively.
Step 5: find r 1∧r 2 by applying the Inverse CRT (Forward Conversion) to the selected DC and AC
coefficients.
Step 6: Determine d=|( r 1∧r 2 )| and D=max ( m 1 , m 2 )−1.
D
Step 7: Add 01 or 10 to the secret key K if ≥ . if there is no coefficient that satisfies the condition, the
S
binary number is II.
 Finally, the generated secret K is registered with a trusted third party and is used to prove its ownership.

Extraction

Using CRT and Traditional Watermarking, before extracting the watermark, we need some information
such as; watermark image, watermark size, seed of PRNG (Pseudo Random number generator) and the
pair-wise co-primem 1∧m2.
Utilizing the seed of the PRNG, the DCT coefficient that is embedded with the watermark information X
( D+C )
is extracted. The value of b is compared with D. if b ≥ , the extracted watermark bit is a ‘1’,
2
otherwise, it is a ‘0’. This is repeated for the remaining blocks until all watermark bits are extracted.

KEY

Watermark Watermark
Embedded Blocking DCT CRT Extraction
Image

Watermark

Figure 1: Watermark Extraction Using Zero watermarking

Steps of Extraction using Zero Watermarking

Step 1: Blocking, DCT and CRT are applied same way during insertion, however, the extraction process
uses a key to extract the watermark
Step 2: The logistic function used during insertion is used to determine the DCT block in which
watermark was inserted.
Step 3: The coefficient X in the block is determined by using the secret key, Inverse CRT (forward
Conversion) is applied to X to get r 1∧r 2 , determine d=|( r 1∧r 2 )| and D=max ( m 1 , m 2 )−1.
Step 4: if d ≥ D /s, watermark bit ‘1’ is extracted, otherwise, ‘0’ is extracted.
 4. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Data used in the experiment are 5 images commonly used in digital watermarking schemes, 512 x 512
“Lena”, “Mandrill”, “Boat”, “Jet”, and “Pepper”. The binary image used as watermark where applicable
is 64 x 64 “Panda”. The parameter used to test the quality of the watermarking process result is the Peak
to Signal Ratio (PSNR) value between the initial image and the watermark image. The equation below is
used to calculate PSNR:
MN (max P x , y )2
PSNR=10 log 10 M N
2 (7)
∑ ∑ [ P x , y− Ṕ x , y ]
x=1 y=1

Robustness
Where M and N is the image size P x, y is the initial image and Ṕ x, y is the watermarked image pixel, while
max P x, y is the maximum intensity value of the image. The results of the watermarking process for the
designed scheme are shown in table 1.
Image Traditional Watermarking Zero Watermarking
with CRT (dB) with CRT (dB)
Lena 47.95 ∞

Mandrill 48.20 ∞

Boat 48.71 ∞

Jet 49.11 ∞

Pepper 49.32 ∞

Table 1. Comparison of watermarked image PSNR

As shown in Table 1, the watermarking process using Traditional Watermarking with CRT and Zero
Watermarking with CRT has relatively similar PSNR values because each method uses a 4 bit watermark
which means that in the Zero Watermarking with CRT method, 16 coefficients has been taken on each
block where each coefficient has 4 bits and makes the total number of bits inserted is 64 bits or 1 bit per
pixel. The difference in PSNR value is due to the difference of watermark bit value and the embedded
pixel value.

Resistance to Attacks
Evaluation of robustness resisting several attacks such as JPEG lossy compression, blurring, sharpening,
and cutting edges have been performed. The quality of the extracted image is determined by the Tamper
Assessment function (TAF).

Attack Traditional Watermark Zero Watermarking with

with CRT % CRT %
No attack

3.96
0.00

JPEG Lossy Compression

34.09
0.10
Blurring

35.40 0.12
 Sharpening

25.10 0.30
Cutting Edges

32.05 10.01

Table 2. Comparison of extracted watermarks for Lena (Values in TAF)

Time of Execution

Time of execution is calculated for both embedding and extraction processes. Intel i5 processor
@ 1.80 GHz, 8GB DDR RAM and Windows 10 OS. Comparison of execution time in seconds is
shown in table 3.

Traditional Watermarking Zero Watermarking with

with CRT CRT
Watermark Embedding 0.12 0.09
Watermark Extraction 0.46 0.064

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

The Zero watermarking scheme with CRT shows much performance than that of the traditional
watermarking with CRT. Without any attack, the traditional Watermarking with CRT still has a high
Tamper assessment function. Zero watermarking with CRT also underperforms under attacks of cropping
(edges and a quadrant). The computational complexity in Zero watermarking is better and faster when
compared with the traditional watermarking with CRT.
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