Reversible Data Hiding for SMVQ Compressed Images Based on De-Clustering Rules

Vector quantization (VQ) is a popular digital image compression technique. Its resulting index table can be further compressed using the side match vector quantization (SMVQ). In this research, we propose a reversible data hiding scheme based on the de-clustering rules to embed secret data during SMVQ compression. Referring to differently assigned codebooks, the de-clustering rules are equally applicable to both compressible and uncompressible VQ indices. The proposed scheme can produce a camouflaged VQ index table with a high payload. Besides, our scheme is free from the indicator bit, which is required in the conventional SMVQ. Experimental results are compared with state-of-the-art methods.