A Reversible Data Hiding Method for AMBTC Compressed Image without Expansion inside Stego Format

This paper proposes a new framework of reversible data hiding scheme for absolute moment truncation coding (AMBTC) compressed images. AMBTC-based RDH can be applied to optical remote sensing (ORS) image transmission, which achieves target region preservation and image compression simultaneously. Existing methods can be concluded as two types. In type I schemes, stego codes mimic the original AMBTC format where no file bloat occurs, yet the carried secret data is limited. Type II schemes utilize predication errors to recode quantity levels of AMBTC codes which achieves significant increase in embedding capacity. However, such recoding causes bloat inside stego format, which is not appropriate in mentioned ORS transmission. The proposed method is a novel type I RDH method which prevents bloat inside AMBTC stego codes with significant improvement in embedding capacity. The AMBTC compressed trios are grouped into two categories according to a given threshold. In smooth trio, the modified low quantity level is constructed by concatenating Huffman codes and secret bits. The reversible contrast mapping (RCM) is performed to complex trios for data embedment. Experiments show that the proposed scheme provides highest payload compared with existing type I methods. Meanwhile, no expansion inside stego codes is caused.