A watermarking scheme based on rotating vector for image content authentication

Semi-fragile watermarking technique for digital image, as a technology for content authentication, aims at telling malicious tampering from content-preserving operators. However, with the resolution of imaging sensors increasing and the explosive growth of digital images on the internet, before authorization, watermarked images tend to undergo such double-compression environments as: first compression (JPEG/JPEG2000) for release, decoding, application processing (conventional signal processing such as nosing, filtering, cropping, and scaling/security attack/malicious tampering), and second compression (JPEG2000/JPEG) for release again. In this paper, based on rotating vector, we propose a novel watermarking expression method that can describe carrier semantics to a certain extent and its modulation algorithm for digital image, and analyze the stability of the watermarked data theoretically. Then, a semi-fragile watermarking scheme is proposed for image content authentication to effectively distinguish malicious content manipulation from content-preserving operations in the double-compression application environment, which expands the application scope of content authentication based on watermarking technology.