New data hiding scheme using pixel swapping for halftone images

Abstract

In this paper, a new data hiding scheme for halftone images by pixel swapping is proposed, and the decryption process needs no computation. The proposed scheme generates a halftone stego-image with high visual quality, and the secret can be revealed in human vision system by stacking the stego-image with another designated halftone image. The quality of the revealed secret image is better than other existing schemes. In addition, the proposed scheme can cooperate with other existing data hiding schemes for halftone images to further increase the revealed secret quality without losing the characteristic of the original stego-image.