Gaussian pixel weighting marks in amplitude modulation of color image watermarking

A watermark embedding method, using an amplitude modulation technique, based on Gaussian pixel-weighting marks is proposed. The method utilizes a technique of weighting a mark by averaging the luminance of its own pixel and its neighboring pixels, and uses it as an additional scaling factor in existing watermark embedding methods. The watermark retrieval process is borrowed from the technique of image averaging from the cross-shaped neighboring pixels of the watermarked image, and hence has no need of the original image. The results show that improved performance is obtained when applying the Gaussian pixel-weighting marks technique, compared to other techniques, namely the equal gain pixel-weighting and the no pixel-weighting marks techniques.