Transform Domain Influenced Variable Bit - Variable Pixel Medical Image Watermarking Scheme

Image watermarking plays an important role in the field of medical image security and also provides a safe pathway for transfer of medical information through public networks such as internet. In this work, variable pixel and variable bit medical image watermarking scheme has been proposed to protect the Electronic Patient Record (EPR). The proposed algorithm uses a Linear Feedback Shift Registers (LFSR) to generate pseudo random sequences for randomly selecting the image pixels of 16 bit Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) image and modified logistic map has been utilized for selecting the bits to achieve adaptive Least Significant Bit (LSB) embedding. Integer Wavelet Transform (IWT) has been applied on original image to decompose it to its sub - bands where EPR has been embedded. The algorithm comprises four phases namely, pixel separation, random pixel selection, variable bit selection and LSB embedding. Proposed watermarking scheme has been achieved a near zero Mean Square Error (MSE) and histogram analysis confirms the imperceptibility of the algorithm. The algorithm requires only 0.235542 S to perform LSB embedding on 512 x 512 DICOM images. Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Normalized Cross Correlation (NCC) and Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) analyses also have been performed to evaluate the efficiency of the watermarking scheme.