Information Hiding in Image Retrieval Systems

In this paper, a new approach for image retrieval system is proposed. By utilizing information hiding technique (steganography), the valuable image attributes can be hidden in an image content without degrading the image quality. In the proposed algorithm, to enhance both retrieval and steganographic performance, database images are compressed by using CHC-RIOT wavelet based coder. Consequently, the image attributes are invisibly embedded in CHC-RIOT compressed bitstream. Based on the simulation results, the proposed system not only shows the efficiency in hiding the attributes but also provides other advantages such as; (1) fast transmission of the retrieval image to the receiver, (2) allows further search based on the retrieved images, (3) no need to extract the attributes separately for other applications.