A Mini-Sudoku Matrix-Based Data Embedding Scheme With High Payload

Data hiding is a technology that generates meaningful stego media by embedding secret data in the cover media. In this paper, we propose a novel data hiding scheme using a mini-Sudoku matrix (MSM). A candidate block associated with the mapping value of a cover pixel pair on the MSM is used to indicate where the original pair would be modified to. According to the candidate block, each non-overlapping pixel pair can embed four bits of secret data. Among them, the first two bits are mapped from a specific element in the MSM while the other two are represented by the horizontal and vertical coordinates of this element with the modulus function. In addition, our MSM can be easily extended, and the proposed method can be used in other magic matrices to increase their embedding capacities. The experimental results indicate that our proposed scheme provides images with better visual quality than the previous methods. Furthermore, the security of the proposed scheme is verified by using pixel difference histogram (PDH) and RS steganalysis.