A general multi-secret visual cryptography scheme

In a (k, n) visual cryptography scheme (VCS), a secret image is encoded into n shadow images that are distributed to n participants. Any k participants can reveal the secret image by stacking their shadow images, and less than k participants have no information about the secret image. In this paper we consider the case when the secret image is more than one, and this is a so-called multi-secret VCS (MVCS). The previous works on MVCS are all the simple 2-out-of-2 cases. In this paper, we discuss a general (k, n)-MVCS for any k and n. This paper has three main contributions: (1) our scheme is the first general (k, n)-MVCS, which can be applied on any k and n, (2) we give the formal security and contrast conditions of (k, n)-MVCS and (3) we theoretically prove that the proposed (k, n)-MVCS satisfies the security and contrast conditions.     

A high contrast and capacity efficient visual cryptography scheme for the encryption of multiple secret images

The visual secret sharing for multiple secrets (VSSM) allows for the encryption of a greater number of secret images into a given image area. Previous researches on VSSM schemes incur a very serious pixel expansion that will damage capable of increasing the capacity of secret image encryption. Moreover, the most of VSSM schemes will decrease the contrast of recover images while the amount of secret image encryption increases. These drawbacks limit applicability of the existing VSSM schemes. In this paper, we propose a highly efficient encryption algorithm to cope with this problem. The proposed algorithm adopts a novel hybrid encryption approach that includes a VC-based encryption and a camouflaging process. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach not only can increase the capacity efficient for VSSM schemes, but also maintains an excellent level of contrast in the recovered secret images.     

Constructions and properties of k out of n scalable secret image sharing

Recently, Wang et al. introduced a novel (2, n) scalable secret image sharing (SSIS) scheme, which can gradually reconstruct a secret image in a scalable manner in which the amount of secret information is proportional to the number of participants. However, Wang et al.’s scheme is only a simple 2-out-of-n case. In this paper, we consider (k, n)-SSIS schemes where a qualified set of participants consists of any k participants. We provide two approaches for a general construction for any k, 2 ? k ? n. For the special case k = 2, Approach 1 has the lesser shadow size than Wang et al.’s (2, n)-SSIS scheme, and Approach 2 is reduced to Wang et al.’s (2, n)-SSIS scheme. Although the authors claim that Wang et al.’s (2, n)-SSIS scheme can be easily extended to a general (k, n)-SISS scheme, actually the extension is not that easy as they claimed. For the completeness of describing the constructions and properties of a general (k, n)-SSIS scheme, both approaches are introduced in this paper.     

A special attack on the multiparty quantum secret sharing of secure direct communication using single photons

The security of a multiparty quantum secret sharing protocol [L.F. Han, Y.M. Liu, J. Liu, Z.J. Zhang, Opt. Commun. 281 (2008) 2690] is reexamined. It is shown that any one dishonest participant can obtain all the transmitted secret bits by a special attack, where the controlled-(-iσ_y) gate is employed to invalidate the role of the random phase shift operation. Furthermore, a possible way to resist this attack is discussed.     

Multiparty quantum secret sharing with Bell states and Bell measurements

We present a multiparty quantum secret sharing scheme and analyze its security. In this scheme, the sender Alice takes EPR pairs in Bell states as quantum resources. In order to obtain the shared key, all participants only need to perform Bell measurements, not to perform any local unitary operation. The total efficiency in this scheme approaches 100% as the classical information exchanged is not necessary except for the eavesdropping checks.     

On “multiparty quantum secret sharing with Bell states and Bell measurements”

Recently, Shi et al. proposed a multiparty quantum secret sharing (QSS) using Bell states and Bell measurements. This study shows that their scheme has a pitfall that could be mounted to a collusion attack if precaution has not been taken in implementation. That is, two dishonest agents can collude to reveal the secret without the help of the others. A possible solution is also presented to avoid the attack.     

Improved Multipartite Quantum Secret Sharing Protocol Using PresharedGreenberger-Horne-Zeilinger States

Inspired by the protocol presented by Bagherinezhad and Karimipour [Phys. Rev. A 67 (2003) 044302], which will be shown to be insecure, we present a multipartite quantum secret sharing protocol using reusable Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states. This protocol is robust against eavesdropping and could be used for the circumstance of many parties.     

Quantum Secret Sharing Using GHZ-Like State

This paper presents a simple and novel quantum secret sharing scheme using GHZ-like state. The characteristics of the GHZ-like state are used to develop the quantum secret sharing scheme. In contrast with the other GHZ-based QSS protocols with the same assumptions, the proposed protocol provides the best quantum bit efficiency.     

Multiparty simultaneous quantum identity authentication with secret sharing

Two multiparty simultaneous quantum identity authentication (MSQIA) protocols based on secret sharing are presented. All the users can be authenticated by a trusted third party (TTP) simultaneously. In the first protocol, the TTP shares a random key K with all the users using quantum secret sharing. The ith share acts as the authentication key of the ith user. When it is necessary to perform MSQIA, the TTP generates a random number R secretly and sends a sequence of single photons encoded with K and R to all the users. According to his share, each user performs the corresponding unitary operations on the single photon sequence sequentially. At last, the TTP can judge whether the impersonator exists. The second protocol is a modified version with a circular structure. The two protocols can be efficiently used for MSQIA in a network. They are feasible with current technology. Supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) (Grant No. 2007CB311100), the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2006AA01Z419 and 20060101Z4015), the Major Research Plan of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 90604023), the Scientific Research Common Program of Beijing Municipal Commission of Education (Grant No. KM200810005004), the Scientific Research Foundation for the Youth of Beijing University of Technology (Grant No. 97007016200701), the National Research Foundation for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China (Grant No. 20040013007), the National Laboratory for Modern Communications Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 9140C1101010601), and the Doctor Scientific Research Activation Foundation of Beijing University of Technology (Grant No. 52007016200702)     

An Efficient Scheme for Multiparty Multi-particle State Sharing

We present an efficient scheme for sharing an arbitrary m-qubit state with n agents. In our scheme, the sender Alice first shares m Bell states with the agent Bob, who is designated to recover the original m-qubit state. Furthermore, Alice introduces n- 1 auxiliary particles in the initial state ｜0）, applies Hadamard （H） gate and Controlled-Not （CNOT） gate operations on the particles, which make them entangled with one of m particle pairs in Bell states, and then sends them to the controllers （i.e., other n - 1 agents）, where each controller only holds one particle in hand. After Alice performing m Bell-basis measurements and each controller a single-particle measurement, the recover Bob can obtain the original unknown quantum state by applying the corresponding local unitary operations on his particles. Its intrinsic efficiency for qubits approaches 100%, and the total efficiency really approaches the maximal value.     

An Efficient Scheme for Multiparty Multi-particle State Sharing

We present an efficient scheme for sharing an arbitrary m-qubitstate with n agents. In our scheme, the sender Alice first shares mBell states with the agent Bob, who is designated to recover the originalm-qubit state. Furthermore, Alice introduces n-1 auxiliary particlesin the initial state |0>, applies Hadamard (H) gate and Controlled-Not (CNOT) gate operations on the particles, which make them entangled with one of m particle pairs in Bell states, and then sends them to the controllers (i.e., other n-1 agents), where each controller only holds one particle in hand. After Alice performing m Bell-basis measurements and each controller a single-particle measurement, the recover Bob can obtain the original unknown quantum state by applying the corresponding local unitary operations on his particles.Its intrinsic efficiency for qubits approaches 100%, and the total efficiency really approaches the maximal value.     

Efficient multi-party quantum state sharing of an arbitrary two-qubit state

We present an efficient scheme for sharing an arbitrary two-qubit quantum state with n agents. In this scheme, the sender Alice first prepares an n + 2-particle GHZ state and introduces a Controlled-Not (CNOT) gate operation. Then, she utilizes the n + 2-particle entangled state as the quantum resource. After setting up the quantum channel, she performs one Bell-state measurement and another single-particle measurement, rather than two Bell-state measurements. In addition, except that the designated recover of the quantum secret just keeps two particles, almost all agents only hold one particle in their hands respectively, and thus they only need to perform a single-particle measurement on the respective particle with the basis X. Compared with other schemes based on entanglement swapping, our scheme needs less qubits as the quantum resources and exchanges less classical information, and thus obtains higher communication efficiency.     

Quantum Secret Sharing Using GHZ-Like State

This paper presents a simple and novel quantum secret sharing schemeusing GHZ-like state. The characteristics of the GHZ-like state areused to develop the quantum secret sharing scheme. In contrast withthe other GHZ-based QSS protocols with the same assumptions, the proposed protocol provides the best quantum bit efficiency.     

Differential Phase Shift Quantum Secret Sharing Using a Twin Field with Asymmetric Source Intensities

As an essential application of quantum mechanics in classical cryptography, quantum secret sharing has become an indispensable component of quantum internet. Recently, a differential phase shift quantum secret sharing protocol using a twin field has been proposed to break the linear rate-distance boundary. However, this original protocol has a poor performance over channels with asymmetric transmittances. To make it more practical, we present a differential phase shift quantum secret sharing protocol with asymmetric source intensities and give the security proof of our protocol against individual attacks. Taking finite-key effects into account, our asymmetric protocol can theoretically obtain the key rate two orders of magnitude higher than that of the original protocol when the difference in length between Alice’s channel and Bob’s is fixed at 14 km. Moreover, our protocol can provide a high key rate even when the difference is quite large and has great robustness against finite-key effects. Therefore, our work is meaningful for the real-life applications of quantum secret sharing.     

Member expansion in quantum (t,n) threshold secret sharing schemes

A protocol for member expansion in quantum (t,n) threshold secret sharing schemes was proposed. Without a trusted center and modifying the shares of old participants, the protocol needs that t (t is the threshold) old participants cooperate to generate the new share. Compared with the previous secret sharing protocols, the proposed protocol has the advantage of joining new participants agilely.     

Multiple Multi-Qubit Quantum States Sharing

A multiple multi-qubit quantum states sharing scheme is proposed,in which the dealer can share multiple multi-qubit quantum states among the participants through only one distribution and one recovery.The dealer encodes the secret quantum states into a special entangled state,and then distributes the particles of the entangled state to the participants.The participants perform the single-particle measurements on their particles,and can cooperate to recover the multiple multi-qubit quantum states.Compared to the existing schemes,our scheme is more efficient and more flexible in practice.     

Hiding Quantum Data

Recent work has shown how to use the laws of quantum mechanics to keep classical and quantum bits secret in a number of different circumstances. Among the examples are private quantum channels, quantum secret sharing and quantum data hiding. In this paper we show that a method for keeping two classical bits hidden in any such scenario can be used to construct a method for keeping one quantum bit hidden, and vice–versa. In the realm of quantum data hiding, this allows us to construct bipartite and multipartite hiding schemes for qubits from the previously known constructions for hiding bits.     

Fusion for visible and infrared images using visual weight analysis and bilateral filter-based multi scale decomposition

Fusion for visible and infrared images has been an important and challenging work in image analysis. Both the feature information in infrared image and abundant detail information in visible image should be preserved and enhanced in fused result. In this paper, a detail enhanced fusion algorithm through visual weight analysis based on smooth-inspired multi scale decomposition is proposed. With variable parameter, bilateral filter-based idea successfully decomposes the two source image into several scales. At each scale level, visual weight map is calculated and used for fusion. Finally, those levels are synthetized with proper weights. Using this idea, the detail information could be enhanced easily. The experimental results demonstrate the proposed approach performs better than other methods, especially in visual effect and keeping details.     

Image sharing scheme based on discrete fractional random transform

We present a novel image sharing algorithm based on the discrete fractional random transform (DFRNT). The secret image is shared into several shadow images in the DFRNT domain together with some noise images as the encryption keys to increase the security. The decryption only requires a part of shadow images and therefore is independent of those noise images. The (t,n) threshold sharing scheme can be implemented completely by the proposed algorithm. The numerical simulations have demonstrated the effectiveness of this image sharing scheme.