A novel multiple-level secret image sharing scheme

In this paper, a novel multiple-level secret image sharing scheme is proposed, which achieves the additional steganography, the authentication, and the scalable abilities. The key idea is that the secret image is revealed at different quality levels with the different priorities. Specifically, based on the weight function and Shamir’s secret sharing, the meaningful shadow images are distributed among the different level participants, and the participants with the higher priority are capable of revealing more information about the secret image. Meanwhile, the proposed scheme enables the cover images to be losslessly restored. Besides, the secret image can be progressively revealed when more participants of the different levels cooperate together. Moreover, the verifiable correctness of the shadow images prevents from cheating among the participants before the recovery of the secret image.