Abstract
Two visual models of image secret sharing have been studied: visual cryptography schemes (VCS), introduced by Naor and Shamir, and visual cryptograms of random grids (VCRG), introduced by Kafri and Keren. VCRG has gained much attention in academia than before to avoid the pixel expansion of VCS. Although there is a strict relation between VCRG and VCS, VCRG can still be improved to achieve a better result. In this paper, based on new insight into linear algebraic technique to construct VCS, where we are able to construct VCS by solving a linear system of more equations at a time, we put forward a new construction of VCRG for general access structures. The effectiveness and advantage of the proposed construction are formally analyzed and experimentally demonstrated. With theoretical and practical interests, our construction exposes new possibilities to the researches of visual models of image secret sharing.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abu-Marie W, Gutub A, Abu-Mansour H (2010) Image based steganography using truth table based and determinate array on RGB indicator. Int J Signal Image Process 1(3):196–204
Adhikari A (2014) Linear algebraic techniques to construct monochrome visual cryptographic schemes for general access structure and its applications to color images. Des Codes Crypt 73(3):865–895
Ateniese G, Blundo C, De Santis A, Stinson D R (1996) Visual cryptography for general access structures. Inf Comput 129(2):86–106
Blundo C, De Santis A, Stinson DR (1999) On the contrast in visual cryptography schemes. J Cryptol 12(4):261–289
Cimato S, De Prisco R, De Santis A (2005) Optimal colored threshold cisual cryptography schemes. Des Codes Crypt 35:311–335
D’Arco P, De Prisco R, De Santis A (2014) Measure-independent characterization of contrast optimal visual cryptography schemes. J Syst Softw 95:89–99
De Prisco R, De Santis A (2014) On the relation of random grid and deterministic visual cryptography. IEEE Trans Inf Forensics Secur 9(4):653–665
Eisen P A, Stinson D R (2002) Threshold visual cryptography schemes with specified whiteness levels of reconstructed pixels. Des Codes Crypt 25(1):15–61
Guo T, Liu F, Wu CK (2013) Visual cryptography for natural images and visual voting. In: Information security and cryptology. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7763. Springer, Berlin, pp 90– 101
Guo T, Liu F, Wu CK (2013) Threshold visual secret sharing by random grids with improved contrast. J Syst Softw 86:2094–2109
Gutub A, Al-Qahtani A, Tabakh A (2009) Triple-A: secure RGB image steganography based on randomization. In: The 7th ACS/IEEE international conference on computer systems and applications (AICCSA-2009). IEEE, Morocco, pp 400–403
Hawkes L W, Yasinsac A, Cline C (2000) An application of visual cryptography to financial documents. Technical Report TR001001. Florida State University, Tallahassee, pp 1–7
Hou YC (2003) Visual cryptography for color images. Pattern Recogn 36 (7):1619–1629
Hu CM, Tzeng WG (2007) Cheating prevention in visual cryptography. IEEE Trans Image Process 16(1):36–45
Jin D, Yan WQ, Kankanhalli MS (2005) Progressive color visual cryptography. J Electron Imaging 14(3):033019
Kafri O, Keren E (1987) Encryption of pictures and shapes by random grids. Optics Lett 12(6):377– 379
Li P, Ma PJ, Li D (2012) Aspect ratio invariant visual cryptography scheme with exible size expansion. ICIC Express Lett 6(8):2033–2038
Lin CC, Tsai WH (2004) Secret image sharing with steganography and authentication. J Syst Softw 73(3):405–414
Liu F, Guo T (2015) Privacy protection display implementation method based on visual passwords. CN Patent App CN 201410542752
Liu F, Wu C, Lin X (2011) Cheating immune visual cryptography scheme. IET Inf Secur 5(1):51–59
Naor M, Pinkas B (1997) Visual authentication and identification. In: Advances in cryptology. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 1294. Springer, Berlin, pp 322–336
Naor M, Shamir A (1995) Visual cryptography. In: Advances in cryptology. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 950. Springer, Berlin, pp 1–12
Parvez MT, Gutub A (2008) RGB intensity based variable-bits image steganography. In: IEEE Asia-pacific services computing conference. IEEE, Taiwan, pp 1322–1327
Shyu S, Jiang H (2013) General constructions for threshold multiple-secret visual cryptographic shcemes. IEEE Trans Inf Forensics Secur 8(5):733–743
Shyu S J (2007) Image encryption by random grids. Pattern Recogn 40(3):1014–1031
Shyu S J (2013) Visual cryptograms of random grids for general access structures. IEEE Trans Circuits Syst Video Technol 23(3):414–424
Shyu S J (2015) Visual cryptograms of random grids for threshold access structures. Theor Comput Sci 565:30–49
Shyu SJ, Chen MC (2011) Optimum pixel expansions for threshold visual secret sharing schemes. IEEE Trans Inf Forensics Secur 6(3):960–969
Thien CC, Lin JC (2002) Secret image sharing. Comput Graph 26(5):765–770
Wang DS, Yi F, Li X (2009) On general construction for extended visual cryptography schemes. Pattern Recogn 42(11):3071–3082
Wang RZ, Su CH (2006) Secret image sharing with smaller shadow images. Pattern Recogn Lett 27(6):551–555
Wu X, Sun W (2012) Visual secret sharing for general access structures by random grids. IET Inf Secur 6(4):299–309
Yamaguchi Y (2012) An extended visual cryptography scheme for continuous-tone images. Springer Trans Digit Forensics Watermarking 7128:228–242
Yan WQ, Jin D, Kankanhalli MS (2004) Visual cryptography for print and scan applications. In: IEEE international symposium on circuits and systems, vol 5. IEEE, Canada, pp 572–575
Yan XH, Shen W, Niu XM, Yang CN (2015) Halftone visual cryptography with minimum auxiliary black pixels and uniform image quality. Digital Signal Process 38:53–65
Yang C, Chen T, Ching M (2006) Embed additional private information into two-dimensional bar codes by the visual secret sharing scheme. Integr Comput-Aided Eng 13(2):189–199
Yang C, Wu C, Wang D (2014) A discussion on the relationship between probabilistic visual cryptography and random grid. Inf Sci 278:141–173
Yang CN, Chen TS (2006) Reduce shadow size in aspect ratio invariant visual secret sharing schemes using a square block-wise operation. Pattern Recogn 39:1300–1314
Yang CN, Chen TS, Yu KH, Wang CC (2007) Improvements of image sharing with steganography and authentication. J Syst Softw 80(7):1070–1076
Yu B, Shen G (2014) Multi-secret visual cryptography with deterministic contrast. Multimed Tools Appl 72(2):1867–1886
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their important and helpful comments. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China with No.61602513 and No.61671448, the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences with No.XDA06010701, and the National Key R&D Program of China with No.2016YFB0800100.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shen, G., Liu, F., Fu, Z. et al. Visual cryptograms of random grids via linear algebra. Multimed Tools Appl 77, 12871–12899 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-017-4921-5
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-017-4921-5