Fast quaternion QR algorithm: Advancing watermarking with multifaceted capabilities

Abstract

With the increasing demand for protecting digital content, watermarking has become a crucial technique for ensuring copyright protection and verifying content authentication. This study proposes a blind watermarking for color images utilizing fast quaternion QR decomposition. The watermarking algorithm comprehensively utilizes the mathematical properties of quaternions and the real structure-preserving method, achieving an efficient and robust watermarking mechanism by optimizing the embedding position, quantization index modulation, and chaotic encryption technique. Experimental results indicate that the algorithm performs well in watermark invisibility and robustness, and is applicable to a variety of image processing attack scenarios, fulfilling real-time and security demands.