ZWNet: A Deep-Learning-Powered Zero-Watermarking Scheme with High Robustness and Discriminability for Images

In order to safeguard image copyrights, zero-watermarking technology extracts robust features and generates watermarks without altering the original image. Traditional zero-watermarking methods rely on handcrafted feature descriptors to enhance their performance. With the advancement of deep learning, this paper introduces “ZWNet”, an end-to-end zero-watermarking scheme that obviates the necessity for specialized knowledge in image features and is exclusively composed of artificial neural networks. The architecture of ZWNet synergistically incorporates ConvNeXt and LK-PAN to augment the extraction of local features while accounting for the global context. A key aspect of ZWNet is its watermark block, as the network head part, which fulfills functions such as feature optimization, identifier output, encryption, and copyright fusion. The training strategy addresses the challenge of simultaneously enhancing robustness and discriminability by producing the same identifier for attacked images and distinct identifiers for different images. Experimental validation of ZWNet’s performance has been conducted, demonstrating its robustness with the normalized coefficient of the zero-watermark consistently exceeding 0.97 against rotation, noise, crop, and blur attacks. Regarding discriminability, the Hamming distance of the generated watermarks exceeds 88 for images with the same copyright but different content. Furthermore, the efficiency of watermark generation is affirmed, with an average processing time of 96 ms. These experimental results substantiate the superiority of the proposed scheme over existing zero-watermarking methods.