Visible Watermarking Scheme for Quick Response Code Based on Reversible Data Hiding

Quick Response Code (QR Code) has become an important entrance of O2O (Online to Offline) in the era of mobile internet. Many applications, such as transformation of URLs, the descriptions of these images, and so on can be realized through embedding QR Code into images. However, the embedding of QR Code may destroy some image details in the corresponding area, which is annoying, especially in these applications that need high precision. The reversible recovery of original image is of importance. A reversible visible watermarking scheme is proposed for embedding QR Code into images. One can decode the information that is encoded in the QR Code and reversibly recover the original image after the QR Code is scanned successfully. Optimization has been achieved both by utilizing the features of QR Code when encoding and decoding in the visible watermarking period and by utilizing the blocking, scanning, and preprocessing of information in the reversible data hiding period. Experimental results have demonstrated the validity and efficiency of the proposed scheme. Better image quality has been achieved by the proposed scheme compared with existing schemes.