Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: The conventional Visual Cryptography Scheme (VCS) relying solely on OR operations suffers from poor recovery quality and severe pixel expansion when implemented on physical transparencies. While XOR-based VCS improves reconstruction fidelity, its dependence on electronic carriers compromises the fundamental “decryption in physical space” principle. To reconcile these trade-offs, we propose a novel Multi-Carrier VCS (MCVCS) that synergistically combines XOR and divides shares into electronic and non-electronic ones. Our scheme introduces a dual-carrier framework where shares are bifurcated into electronic and non-electronic components. During reconstruction, the electronic shares undergo XOR processing in computational devices to generate an intermediate share, which is then physically superimposed with the non-electronic share (OR operation). Theoretical analysis proves our scheme satisfies the security condition and possesses a constant relative difference of $$\alpha $$ = 1/2, independent of participant count. Our scheme bridges the gap between analog physical cryptography and digital security paradigms, and still maintains the features of “decryption is simple” and “decryption in physical space” of VCS.
Authors: Yuan Gao, Zhengxin Fu, Xiaopeng Li, Sensen Li, Bin Yu
Institution: PLA Information Engineering University
Language: English
Subfield: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,990
Award: G7034644147
OpenAlex ID: W4416855209