A Reversible Watermarking Algorithm for HEVC Intra-coded Frames without Error Propagation

To eliminate the error propagation caused by embedding reversible watermarking in intra-coded frames, a reversible watermarking algorithm for intra-coded frames without error propagation is proposed in this paper according to the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard. At the first, the new coding characters of HEVC was fully considered, the analysis about the error propagation characters after embedding watermarking in intra-coded frames was done, and then the conditions which can avert error propagation after embedding watermarking in 4×4 prediction unit of intra-coded frames was proposed; Finally, the method based on sum invariability was used to embed adaptively watermarking in the quantized discrete sine transform coefficients of the 4×4 coefficient blocks which meet the proposed conditions. In addition, for the sake of reducing the bit rate increasing, the all-zero coefficient blocks would not be selected to embed watermarking. The results show that this algorithm can effectively eliminate the error propagation caused by embedding watermarking in intra-coded frames which can reduce visual distortion. Meanwhile, it has little influence on the bit rate.