Abstract This paper proposes a new algorithm for hiding data in the frequency domain of digital images using the discrete cosine transform. This algorithm uses quantization index modulation (QIM) as the basic embedding operation. Frequency embedding is characterized by the problem of error appearance in a secret message arising directly at the embedding stage. The embedded message is distorted due to the loss of information when restoring integer pixel values from the frequency domain. This problem is significant if the integrity of the transmitted information is critical. For example, an insignificant distortion of an encrypted message leads to the impossibility of decrypting and, consequently, to the loss of all encrypted information. The proposed algorithm solves this problem via an iterative embedding procedure, which corrects the arising errors. Another distinctive feature of this algorithm is the adaptive correction of distortions of the frequency coefficients’ histogram. For this purpose, the embedding procedure adapts to the features of the image and masks the arising distortions. Computing experiments and comparison with the state-of-the-art demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm.

中文翻译：

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基于 QIM 方法的数字图像 DCT 域无差错信息嵌入算法

摘要 本文提出了一种利用离散余弦变换在数字图像频域中隐藏数据的新算法。该算法使用量化索引调制 (QIM) 作为基本嵌入操作。频率嵌入的特点是在嵌入阶段直接出现秘密消息中的错误出现问题。从频域恢复整数像素值时，由于信息丢失，嵌入的消息会失真。如果传输信息的完整性很关键，这个问题就很重要。例如，加密消息的微小失真会导致无法解密，从而导致所有加密信息丢失。所提出的算法通过迭代嵌入过程解决了这个问题，从而纠正产生的错误。该算法的另一个显着特点是对频率系数直方图失真的自适应校正。为此，嵌入过程会适应图像的特征并掩盖出现的失真。计算实验和与最先进技术的比较证明了我们算法的有效性。