SUBTITLE COLORWIPING AND POSITIONING METHOD AND APPARATUS

Colorwiping and dynamic positioning of subtitles is achieved by encoding and decoding the subtitles separately from the video image. At the encoder, subtitles are generated for each respective video image. Colorwiping is performed by changing the color of the subtitles at a certain location in the video image. At the decoder, a buffer stores the subtitles along with subtitle decoding information. A controller precisely times a reading operation of the buffer to read out the subtitles during a real time display of the respective video image; and colorwiping is performed by changing the color of a portion of the subtitles at a location indicated by the subtitle decoding information. Dynamic positioning of the subtitles is achieved by delaying the time the controller executes the read operation. When the decoding technique is repeated for a number of frames, the viewer senses motion as the colorwiping and positioning gradually changes.