A virtual image cryptosystem based upon vector quantization

We propose a new image cryptosystem to protect image data. It encrypts the original image into another virtual image. Since both original and virtual images are significant, our new cryptosystem can confuse illegal users. Besides the camouflage, this new cryptosystem has three other benefits. First, our cryptosystem is secure even if the illegal users know that our virtual image is a camouflage. Second, this cryptosystem can compress image data. Finally, our method is more efficient than a method that encrypts the entire image directly.