Robust image watermarking using local invariant features

This paper addresses a novel robust watermarking method for digital images using local invariant features. Most previous watermarking algorithms are unable to resist geometric distortions that desynchronize the location where copyright information is inserted. We propose a watermarking method that is robust to geometric distortions. In order to resist geometric distortions, we use a local invariant feature of the image called the scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT), which is invariant to translation and scaling distortions. The watermark is inserted into the circular patches generated by the SIFT. Rotation invariance is achieved using the translation property of the polar-mapped circular patches. Our method belongs to the blind watermark, because we do not need the original image during detection. We have performed an intensive simulation to show the robustness of the proposed method. The simulation results support the contention that our method is robust against geometric distortion attacks as well as signal-processing attacks. We have compared our results with those of other methods, and our method outperforms them. (c) 2006 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.