A digital watermarking approach based on DCT domain combining QR code and chaotic theory

This paper proposes a robust watermarking approach based on Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) domain that combines Quick Response (QR) Code and chaotic system. When embed the watermark, the high error correction performance and the strong decoding capability of QR Code are utilized to decode the text watermark information which improves the robustness of the watermarking algorithm. Then the QR Code image is encrypted with chaotic system to enhance the security of this approach. Finally the encrypted image is embedded to the carrier image's DCT blocks after they underwent block-based Arnold scrambling transformation. During the extraction process, as long as the QR Code image can be decoded, the completeness and accuracy of the text watermarking information can be guaranteed. The results of simulation experiment show that this approach has high robustness and security and has, therefore, some practical value in the copyright protection.