Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Secret image sharing (SIS) is an image protection technique based on cryptography. However, traditional SIS schemes have limited noise resistance, making it difficult to ensure reconstructed image quality. To address this issue, this paper proposes a robust SIS scheme based on QR codes, which enables the efficient and lossless reconstruction of the secret image without pixel expansion. Moreover, the proposed scheme maintains high reconstruction quality under noisy conditions. In the sharing phase, the scheme compresses the length of shares by optimizing polynomial computation and improving the pixel allocation strategy. Reed–Solomon coding is then incorporated to enhance the anti-noise capability during the sharing process, while achieving meaningful secret sharing using QR codes as carriers. In the reconstruction phase, the scheme further improves the quality of the reconstructed secret image by combining image inpainting algorithms with the error-correction capability of Reed–Solomon codes. The experimental results show that the scheme can achieve lossless reconstruction when the salt-and-pepper noise density is less than d≤0.02, and still maintains high-quality reconstruction when d≤0.13. Compared with the existing schemes, the proposed method significantly improves noise robustness without pixel expansion, while preserving the visual meaning of the QR code carrier, and achieves a secret sharing strategy that combines robustness and practicality.
Source: Algorithms
DOI: 10.3390/a18090535
Authors: Pengcheng Huang, Canyu Chen, Xinmeng Wan
Institution: Xiamen University of Technology
Language: English
Subfield: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,930
Award: 基于视觉密码的QR码秘密分享关键技术研究
OpenAlex ID: W4413434962