2008 International Conference on Computer Science and Software Engineering
A Novel Steganographic Algorithm Based on the
Motion Vector Phase
Xuansen He
College of computer and communication
Hunan University
Changsha, China
hxshf@vip.sina.com
Abstract—Most data hiding techniques in digital video utilize I
frame to embed the secret information so the capacity of P and B
frame is wasted. In this paper, we first analyze a data-hiding
algorithm using the phase angle difference of the motion vector,
on this base a novel steganographic algorithm based on the phase
of the motion vector is proposed. The algorithm utilizes the phase
of single motion vector to embed the secret data in P or B frame,
in order to improve the embedding efficiency we use the matrix
encoding technique to achieve a better tradeoff between the
quantities of hidden data and the motion vectors modification
rate. The simulation results have validated the feasibility of the
algorithm.
Keywords-seganography; phase of motion vector; matrix
encoding; digital video
I. INTRODUCTION
Data hiding technique (seganography or information
hiding) has become an important research content in the field
of information security. The up-to-date information hiding is
that the important data or secret information is embedded into
some media such as images, videos or audios without
introducing perceptual distortion. After receiving the media
embedded the secret information, the receiver extracts the
information by the corresponding key and algorithm. Because
the information quantities of uncompressed video are big so the
videos have to be compressed in order to save transmission
bandwidth and storage space. The most famous compressing
and coding standards are MPEG-X (X=1,2,4) and H.26X
(X=1,2,3,4), the information hiding algorithms on those
standards are called digital video or compressed video
algorithms. The digital video has become an important
information hiding medium because of its big signal capacity
and extended applications range. Up to now, there are many
techniques for embedding the secret information into digital
video. The steganography in digital video can choose different
position to embed the secret information, for example, the
secret information is added to the DCT coefficients, the
information is embedded in the motion vectors, etc.
The algorithms based on the motion vectors select the
appropriate motion vector first and then embed the secret
information into the amplitude or phase. Jordan et al propose
information hiding in digital video using INTER-frame [1].
They select the inter frames in MPEG video sequences, and
regularize the motion vectors into a modified sequences.
978-0-7695-3336-0/08 $25.00 © 2008 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/CSSE.2008.359
Zhun Luo
College of computer and communication
Hunan University
Changsha, China
gol_ele@sina.com
Changyong Xu et al propose that the secret data are embedded
in the amplitude of the motion vector and the control data are
embedded in I frame [2]. Dingyu Fang et al proposes a
data-hiding scheme that embeds the secret data in digital videos
using the phase angle difference of the motion vector[3]. Shan
Zhu et al proposes the diamond search algorithm for fast
block-matching motion estimation[4]. Above the methods have
the advantages of least influence on the videos and simple
algorithms. In this paper we proposes an new effective
algorithm that embeds the secret information into P or B frame
of the phase of the motion vector. The remainder of this paper
is organized as follows. Section 2 introduce a data hiding
algorithm based on the phase angle difference of the motion
vector. Section 3 is dedicated to deriving a new seganographic
algorithm based on the phase of the motion vector. The
simulation results of the algorithms are presented in Section 4.
Finally, Section 5 concludes the paper.
II. THE ALGORITHM BASED ON THE PHASE ANGLE
DIFFERENCE OF THE MOTION VECTOR
The foundation of the data hiding algorithm based on the
phase angle difference of the motion vector [3] (method _first)
is as follows: most of the video encoders perform some fast
block search algorithm to substitute the full search algorithm,
these fast search algorithms include three steps search (TSS),
four steps search (FSS) and diamond search(DS) [4],[5], and so
on, these algorithms can find the local optimal motion vector
and can save lots of computational burden. The method_first
replaces the original motion vector with another local optimal
motion vector to embed data in the motion vectors in the inter
frame, the process of the algorithm is as below [3]:
(1) Discard the surrounding macroblock in the current inter
frame.
(2) Compute the motion vector magnitudes in the
remaining macroblocks.
(3) Using the predefine threshold T to select a set S for
candidate motion vectors(MV).
S = {MV0 , MV1 , " , MVn −1} , |S|=n
( MViV2 + MViH2 ) ≥ T (0 ≤ i < n) , where MViH and MViV is
respectively the horizontal and vertical components of the
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motion vector MVi .
(4) Compute the phase angle of each motion vector in S:
Φ i = arctan ( MViV MViH )
(5) Get a pair of motion vectors MV2i and MV2i +1
(0≤i≤[n/2]) from S in a sequential order.
(a) If data bit is 0, the two conditions are considered:
i) If 0° <| Φ 2i − Φ 2i +1 |≤ 180° the both motion vectors are
not changed.
ii) If 180° <| Φ 2i − Φ 2i +1 |≤ 360° the new motion vectors
MV2∗i and MV2∗i +1 are searched for the (2i)-th and (2i+1)-th
macroblocks such that | MV2∗i |≥ T , | MV2∗i +1 |≥ T
∗ ∗
0° <| Φ − Φ 2i +1 |≤ 180° and 0° <| Φ 2i − Φ
2i 2 i +1 |≤ 180° .
Let MSE2i = MSE between B∗p 2i and B p 2i , where the
prediction block Bp2i with MV2i in the reference frame,
prediction block B∗p 2i with MV2i∗ in the reference frame. Let
MSE2i +1 = MSE between B∗p (2i +1) and B p (2i +1) , where the
prediction block B p (2i +1) with MV2i +1 in the reference frame,
the prediction block B∗p (2i +1) with MV2∗i +1 in the reference
frame. If (MSE2i<MSE2i+1) then MV2i is replaced with MV2i∗ ,
otherwise, MV2i+1 is replaced with MV2∗i +1 .
(b) If data bit is 1, the two conditions are considered:
i) If 180° <| Φ 2i − Φ 2i +1 |≤ 360° , the both motion vectors
are not changed.
ii) If 0° <| Φ 2i − Φ 2i +1 |≤ 180° , the new motion vectors
MV2i∗ and MV2∗i +1 are searched for the (2i)-th and (2i+1)-th
macroblocks such that | MV2∗i |≥ T and | MV2∗i +1 |≥ T ,
∗ ∗
180° <| Φ − Φ 2i +1 |≤ 360° ,
2i 180° <| Φ 2i − Φ 2 i +1 |≤ 360° .
Let MSE2i = MSE between B∗p 2i and B p 2i , where the
prediction block B p 2i with MV2i in the reference frame,
prediction block B∗p 2i with MV2i∗ in the reference frame. Let
MSE2i +1 = MSE between B∗p (2i +1) and B p (2i +1) , where the
prediction block B p (2i +1) with MV2i +1 in the reference frame,
the prediction block B∗p (2i +1) with MV2∗i +1 in the reference
frame. If (MSE2i<MSE2i+1) then MV2i is replaced with MV2i∗ ,
otherwise, MV2i+1 is replaced with MV2∗i +1 .
(6) If the embedding process is not completed, then go to
Step (5), otherwise, go to Step (1) to process the next inter
frame.
(7) The extraction process of the secret information: if
0° <| Φ 2i − Φ 2i +1 |≤ 180° then the secret data bit is 0, if
180° <| Φ 2i − Φ 2i +1 |≤ 360° then the data bit is 1.
The above two sectors data hiding algorithm for embedding
1 bit in the phase angle of a pair of motion vectors can be
extended to multi-sectors. The circle can be segmented into
more sectors and every sector denotes different embedded
bits respectively. For example, four sectors (0°,90°),
(90°,180°), (180°,270°), (270°,360°), where (0°,90°) and
(180°,270°) attribute to one sector set. Reference [3] has done
the experiment and proved that the sixteen sectors improves
PSNR approximate 2.5dB comparing with the two sectors.
III. THE ALGORITHM BASED ON THE PHASE OF THE
MOTION VECTOR
There are two disadvantages in the method_first: one is that
1 bit secret data is embedded in two motion vectors so the
utilizing efficiency of the media is lower, another is that the
,
computation and replacing amount of the motion vectors is big.
In order to solve the above disadvantages we proposes an
algorithm based on the phase of the motion vector
(method_second).
We also segment circle (0°, 360°) into two sectors and the
two sectors express respectively data “0” and “1”, either
motion vector must be attributed to one of the two sectors.
When the embedded data match with the phase information of
the motion vector, then the motion vector is not changed,
otherwise, we search one optimal motion vector in another
sector to replace the original motion vector. The method_first
and method_second respectively adopt different set of
coordinates. The vertical coordinate axis of the method_first is
the motion vector that is not changed, but the method_second
uses fixed right-angled coordinate system. That is showed in
Figure 1.
When MV2 needs to be changed, the two algorithms only
search an optimal MV2∗ in the shadow section of Figure 1 to
substitute MV2 . Our algorithm can improve the utilizing
efficiency of the media but cannot solve the problem that the
motion vectors modification amount is too big, so we introduce
matrix encoding to improve the performance of the algorithm.
Matrix encoding is a circulation encoding technique, it can
improve the information embedding efficiency. Per three
sequential motion vectors that are satisfied with the amplitude
conditions are segmented into a group, and 2 bits secret
information are embedded in per group. We only modify one
motion vector once, for example, MV1 , MV2 , MV3 are in
one group, if MV1 and MV3 need to be modified
synchronously, we only modify MV2 to satisfy the
corresponding relation.
In the method_first, if MV2 needs to be modified but
MV1 and MV3 are fixedness, then the phase of MV2 must
be satisfied with the two conditions of MV1 and MV3
synchronously, this method restricts the searching area and
makes the difference between the optimal vector and the
original vector increase. The matrix encoding of the
method_first in four sectors is showed in Figure 2. From the
figure we can obviously see that the searching area has been
decreased.
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(a) The method_first
(b) The method_second
Figure 1. The set of coordinates of the two algorithms
Figure 2. The matrix encoding of the method_first
The process of our algorithm can be written as follows.
Step (1) to Step (4) are the same with that of the
method_first.
(5) The sequential three motion vectors MVi, MVi+1, MVi+2
in S are segmented into a group. Q1, Q2, Q3 express
respectively the embedded data of motion vectors MVi, MVi+1,
MVi+2, so the value of Qi is “0” or “1”.
i) If Q1⊕Q2=0 and Q2⊕Q3=0, where sign “⊕” denotes the
“exclusive or” operator, then every motion vectors are not
changed.
ii) If Q1⊕Q2=1 and Q2⊕Q3=0, then MVi is modified into
another phase sector.
iii) If Q1⊕Q2=0 and Q2⊕Q3=1, then MVi + 2 is modified
into another phase sector.
iv) If Q1⊕Q2=1 and Q2⊕Q3=1, then MVi +1 is modified
into another phase sector.
(b) If embedded data are “01”, we consider four conditions
as below:
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i) If Q1⊕Q2=0 and Q2⊕Q3=0, then MVi + 2 is modified
into another phase sector.
ii) If Q1⊕Q2=0 and Q2⊕Q3=1, then every motion vectors
are not changed.
iii) If Q1⊕Q2=1 and Q2⊕Q3=0, then MVi +1 is modified
into another phase sector.
iv) If Q1⊕Q2=1 and Q2⊕Q3=1, then MVi is modified
into another phase sector.
(c) If embedded data are “10”, we consider four conditions
as below:
i) If Q1⊕Q2=0 and Q2⊕Q3=0, then MVi is modified into
another phase sector.
ii) If Q1⊕Q2=1 and Q2⊕Q3=0, then every motion vectors
are not changed.
iii) If Q1⊕Q2=0 and Q2⊕Q3=1, then MVi +1 is modified
into another phase sector.
iv) If Q1⊕Q2=1 and Q2⊕Q3=1, then MVi + 2 is modified
into another phase sector.
(d) If embedded data are “11”, we consider four conditions
as below:
i) If Q1⊕Q2=0 and Q2⊕Q3=0, then MVi +1 is modified
into another phase sector.
ii) If Q1⊕Q2=1 and Q2⊕Q3=0, then MVi + 2 is modified
into another phase sector.
iii) If Q1⊕Q2=0 and Q2⊕Q3=1, then MVi is modified into
another phase sector.
iv) If Q1⊕Q2=1 and Q2⊕Q3=1, then every motion vectors
are not changed.
(6) If the embedding process is not completed, then go to
Step (5), otherwise, go to Step (1) to process the next inter
frame.
(7) The extraction of the secret information: we only
compute the value of Q1⊕Q2, Q2⊕Q3 and can easily get the
embedded secret information.
VI. EXPERIMENT RESULTS ANALYSIS
To test the performance of the algorithms, we make a series
of experiments. In the experiment, the two methods are applied
to the MPEG-2 digital video stream and we segment circle (0°,
360°) into sixteen sectors. For our algorithm we embed a
random sequence of the secret information into P frame of the
tested video and choose “IPPP” encoding.
In the simulations we compare the performances of the two
algorithms, and the same simulation conditions are used for the
two algorithms to allow fair comparison.
 In the first simulation we compare the embedding capacity
of the two algorithms. The simulation conditions are T=10 and
the video signals are the sequential eight P frames of Stefan
video. The result of this simulation is showed in Figure 3.
From it we can see that our algorithm improves the embedding
capacity about 15%.
Figure 3. The embedding capacity comparison
In the second simulation we compare the motion vectors
modification rate of the two algorithms, we define the motion
vectors (MV) modification rate as below:
the number of modified MV
MV modification rate =
the number of embedded data bits
The test conditions are 20 groups random sequences of
Stefan video. The simulation result is showed in Figure 4.
From it we can see that our algorithm can decrease the motion
vectors modification rate about 10%.
Figure 4. The motion vector modification rate comparison
Because the two algorithms are materially the same in
modifying the single motion vector, then the lower MV
modification rate can directly improve the quality of the video
embedded the secret information.
In the third experiment we compare the signal-to-noise ratio
(PSNR) of the two algorithms. The test conditions are Football
video sequences. Here we chiefly compare the relation
between the PSNR and the number of embedded data bits. The
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simulation result is showed in Figure 5. From it we can see that
our algorithm can improve PSNR about 2dB.
Figure 5. The PSNR comparison
V. CONCLUSION
We propose a new steganographic algorithm based on the
phase of the motion vector in this paper. In the algorithm the
sequential three motion vectors are segmented into a group
and 2 bits data are embedded in per group, once only one
motion vector is modified at most so that the MV modification
rate is decreased and the embedding efficiency is improved.
Our algorithm can be applied to compressed videos such as
MPEG-X (X=1, 2, 4) or H.26X (X=1, 2, 3, 4) and can be
compatible with other types of data hiding algorithms. The
experimental results show that our algorithm not only can
embed large amounts of the secret information into a video but
also can maintain good video quality.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported by the Key Item of Science and
Technology Program of Xiangtan City, Hunan Province, China
(No. ZJ20071008).
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