Optimization in Digital Watermarking Techniques

Digital watermarking (DWM) becomes a multidisciplinary research area involving theory of communications, signal processing, multimedia coding, information theory, cryptography, computer science and game theory etc. This chapter looks digital watermarking as an optimization problem from different combination of these areas. The goal is to resolve the conflicting requirements of different parameters and properties of digital watermarking. The chapter also presents a review of recent advances in the state-of-the-art algorithms for optimized watermarking techniques. Optimized watermarking methods are then discussed from the rigorous mathematical analysis to theoretical derivations of algorithms with the aid of soft computing techniques. The design and implementation of optimized watermarking methods for the image, video and sound signals are discussed in the context of various diverse applications. Finally, the scope of future research in this area is highlighted.