Selective video encryption of a distributed coded bitstream using LDPC codes

Selective encryption is a technique that is used to minimize computational complexity or enable system functionality by only encrypting a portion of a compressed bitstream while still achieving reasonable security. For selective encryption to work, we need to rely not only on the beneficial effects of redundancy reduction, but also on the characteristics of the compression algorithm to concentrate important data representing the source in a relatively small fraction of the compressed bitstream. These important elements of the compressed data become candidates for selective encryption. In this paper, we combine encryption and distributed video source coding to consider the choices of which types of bits are most effective for selective encryption of a video sequence that has been compressed using a distributed source coding method based on LDPC codes. Instead of encrypting the entire video stream bit by bit, we encrypt only the highly sensitive bits. By combining the compression and encryption tasks and thus reducing the number of bits encrypted, we can achieve a reduction in system complexity.