Robust Image Watermarking With Synchronization Using Template Enhanced-Extracted Network

An efficient robust watermarking method should be resistant to various distortions, including distortions from image processing and geometric attacks. Geometric attacks are significant challenges for watermarking methods because they destroy the synchronization of the watermark between the embedding side and extracting side. It is a considerable challenge to accomplish watermark synchronization for watermarking methods. To address this challenge, a novel robust watermarking method with synchronization is proposed. At the embedding side, the watermark and the template are embedded to generate the watermarked image. If the watermarked image is attacked, the watermark and template are also distorted. At the extracting side, a template enhanced-extracted network is proposed to achieve watermark synchronization. The template enhanced-extracted network effectively extracts the distorted template from the distorted image. The template-enhanced subnet can indirectly enhance the strength of the distorted template in the distorted image and improve the accuracy of the template-extracted subnet. The visual quality of the watermarked image is guaranteed because there is no need to embed the template with high strength. Then, the attack factor is predicted based on the distorted template. By leveraging this prediction, correct watermark extraction with synchronization is achieved. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed watermarking method with synchronization yields excellent robustness under image processing, geometric attacks and combined attacks.