Error concealment in image communication using edge map watermarking and spatial smoothing

We propose a novel error concealment algorithm to be used at the receiver side of a lossy image transmission system. Our algorithm involves hiding the edge map of the original image at the transmitter within itself using a robust watermarking scheme. At the receiver, wherever a lost block is detected, the extracted edge information is used as border constraint for the spatial smoothing employing the intact neighboring blocks in order to conceal errors. Simulation results show the superiority of our technique over existing methods even in case of high packet loss ratios in the communication network.