Fast and robust watermarking of JPEG files

In this paper, we present a fast watermarking method that applies to JPEG images. JPEG is a standard image format supported by virtually all available image software applications. Our method manipulates the quantized DCT coefficients directly and can be implemented in real time. We use texture masking to embed a stronger watermark signal in certain texture areas. Watermark robustness to JPEG compression, additive Gaussian noise and image cropping attacks is studied with the proposed system. The relationship between watermark robustness and watermark position is also studied. A description of the method is included and results are presented along with a discussion of possible improvements.