Blind Medical Image Watermarking Method Using Combined NSCT/2D-DCT Domains

Authors

Ali Kouadri, Laboratory of Telecommunications and Smart Systems, Faculty of Sciences and Technologies, University of Djelfa, BP 3117, Djelfa, 17000, AlgeriaFollow
Ali Benziane, Laboratory of Telecommunications and Smart Systems, Faculty of Sciences and Technologies, University of Djelfa, BP 3117, Djelfa, 17000, Algeria
Abdelhalim Rabehi, Laboratory of Telecommunications and Smart Systems, Faculty of Sciences and Technologies, University of Djelfa, BP 3117, Djelfa, 17000, Algeria
Mohamed Lebcir, Faculty of Computing, University Malaysia Pahang Al-Sultan Abdullah, 26600, Pekan, Pahang, Malaysia

Abstract

This paper presents a novel blind watermarking framework that combines Non-Subsampled Contourlet Transform (NSCT) and 2D Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) domains. The proposed method embeds the watermark’s data within low-frequency coefficients of sub-vectors extracted from a concatenated NSCT/2D-DCT transforms processing. The embedding procedure involves simple differential processing which ensures a straightforward watermark extraction. Extensive testing across medical imaging modalities (X-ray, CT, MRI, ultrasound) confirmed strong imperceptibility and robustness against attacks like JPEG compression, noise, filtering, and geometric manipulations. Compared to contemporary techniques, our NSCT/2D-DCT method shows stronger robustness against attacks without compromising diagnostic quality, proving its viability for medical image authentication in clinical settings.

Recommended Citation

Kouadri, Ali; Benziane, Ali; Rabehi, Abdelhalim; and Lebcir, Mohamed (2025) "Blind Medical Image Watermarking Method Using Combined NSCT/2D-DCT Domains," Iraqi Journal for Computer Science and Mathematics: Vol. 6: Iss. 4, Article 7.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52866/2788-7421.1327
Available at: https://ijcsm.researchcommons.org/ijcsm/vol6/iss4/7