A technique for image data hiding and reconstruction without host image

A new technique for embedding image data that can be recovered in the absence of the original host image, is presented. The data to be embedded, referred to as the signature data, is inserted into the host image in the DCT domain. The signature DCT coefficients are encoded using a lattice coding scheme before embedding. Each block of host DCT coefficients is first checked for its texture content and the signatured codes are appropriately inserted depending on a local texture measure. Experimental results indicate that high quality embedding is possible, with no visible distortions. Signature images can be recovered even when the embedded data is subject to significant lossy JPEG compression.