A k,n-Threshold Secret Image Sharing Scheme Based on a Non-Full Rank Linear Model

Abstract

Secret image sharing is a hot issue in the research field of data hiding schemes for digital images. This paper proposes a general k,n threshold secret image sharing scheme, which distributes secret data into n meaningful image shadows based on a non-full rank linear model. The image shadows are indistinguishable from their corresponding distinct cover images. Any k combination of the n shares can perfectly restore the secret data. In the proposed scheme, the integer parameters k,n, with k≤n, can be set arbitrarily to meet the application requirement. The experimental results demonstrate the applicability of the proposed general scheme. The embedding capacity, the visual quality of image shadows, and the security level are satisfactory.