Automatic identification of digital content related to a block of text, such as a blog entry

1. A method of identifying digital content related to a portion of a block of text, the method comprising:

receiving an indication of one or more words included in the block of text for which related digital content is to be identified, wherein:

the one or more words are not manually provided as search queries for digital content; and

the digital content comprises still or moving digital images;

dividing the one or more words included in the block of text into one or more segments comprising phrases or individual words;

automatically searching a dataset of digital content based on the one or more segmented phrases or individual words;

automatically retrieving from the dataset one or more digital content items or identifiers associated with the one or more digital content items, wherein the digital content items are related to the one or more segmented phrases or individual words, the dataset of digital content containing an indication of whether the one or more digital content items are licensed or unlicensed;

determining, for each of the one or more retrieved digital content items or identifiers, whether a license has been indicated;

presenting each retrieved digital content item or identifier to the user if a license has been indicated for the associated retrieved digital content item or identifier;

receiving a selection of one or more of the provided digital content items or identifiers from the user; and

associating for display or replay the one or more selected digital content items or the one or more digital content items associated with the one or more selected identifiers with the one or more words in the block of text.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the block of text comprises a web log.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the digital content comprises digital images.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the indication of one or more words included in the block of text comprises:

providing to the user a visual indication of one or more words in the block of text for which related digital content is available; and

receiving from the user a selection of one or more of the words for which the visual indication is provided.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more words for which the indication is received have multiple meanings, and wherein the method further comprises:

providing to the user a visual indication of one or more of the multiple meanings;

receiving from the user a selection of one of the provided meanings.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

dividing the block of text into segments of one or more words;

selecting the segments for which digital content is most likely to be available; and

searching the dataset of digital content based on the selected segments.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising mapping the one or more words for which the indication is received to one or more keyword categories.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the retrieved digital content items or identifiers to the user comprises:

ranking the digital content items, wherein items that are likely to be more relevant to the user are ranked higher and items that are less likely to be relevant to the user are ranked lower; and

presenting to the user the digital content items, wherein the items that are ranked higher are presented before the items that are ranked lower.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising annotating the block of text, wherein annotating comprises marking each of the one or more words in the block of text with a denotation as to which of the one or more digital content items are associated with the one or more words.

10. A non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium encoded with processing instructions for implementing a method, performed by a computer, for selecting digital content related to a portion of a block of text, the method comprising:

submitting the block of text to a computer-implemented service for identifying digital content comprised of still or moving digital images;

receiving from the computer-implemented service a visual indication of one or more words in the block of text for which related digital content is available, wherein the one or more words for which related digital content is available is determined in part by:

dividing the submitted block of text into one or more segments comprising phrases or individual words; and

searching a dataset of digital content based on the one or more segmented phrases or individual words, the dataset of digital content containing an indication of whether the one or more digital content items are licensed or unlicensed;

selecting one or more of the words for which the visual indication is received, wherein the one or more words are not manually provided as search queries for digital content;

for each of the one or more selected words, receiving from the computer-implemented service one or more digital content items or identifiers associated with the one or more digital content items, wherein the one or more received digital content items or identifiers are received if the dataset of digital content contains an indication that the received one or more digital content items are licensed, and further wherein the received digital content items or identifiers are related to the one or more selected words; and

selecting one or more of the received digital content items or identifiers to be associated with the one or more selected words, wherein the one or more selected digital content items or identifiers are subsequently associated with the one or more selected words.

11. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the block of text comprises a web log.

12. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the digital content comprises digital images.

13. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 10 wherein the method further comprises receiving from the service an annotated block of text, wherein the annotated block of text comprises the submitted block of text and annotations associating the one or more selected words with the one or more selected digital content items.

14. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 10 wherein receiving the one or more digital content items or identifiers comprises receiving a ranked list, wherein the digital content items that are likely to be more relevant to the user are presented before items that are less likely to be relevant to the user.

15. The non-transitory tangible computer-readable medium of claim 10 wherein submitting the block of text comprises submitting one or more specified words in the block of text, wherein the one or more specified words are selected by a user.

16. A system for selecting digital content related to a portion of a block of text, the system comprising:

means for receiving an indication of one or more words included in the block of text for which related digital content is to be identified, wherein:

the one or more words are not manually provided as search queries for digital content; and

the digital content comprises still or moving digital images;

means for dividing the one or more words included in the block of text into one or more segments comprising phrases or individual words, wherein the means for dividing is coupled to the means for receiving;

means for searching a dataset of digital content based on the one or more segmented phrases or individual words, wherein the means for searching is coupled to the means for segmenting;

means for retrieving from the dataset one or more digital content items or identifiers associated with the one or more digital content items, wherein:

the digital content items are related to the one or more segmented phrases or individual words;

the dataset of digital content contains an indication of whether the one or more digital content items are licensed or unlicensed; and

the means for retrieving is coupled to the means for searching;

means for determining, for each of the one or more retrieved digital content items, whether a licensing agreement is indicated, wherein the means for determining is coupled to the means for retrieving;

means for providing the retrieved digital content items or identifiers to the user if a licensing agreement is indicated with respect to the retrieved digital content items or identifiers, wherein the means for providing is coupled to the means for determining;

means for receiving a selection of one or more of the provided digital content items or identifiers from the user, wherein the means for receiving is coupled to the means for providing; and

means for associating for display or replay the one or more selected digital content items or the one or more digital content items associated with the one or more selected identifiers with the one or more words in the block of text.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the block of text comprises a web log.

18. The system of claim 16 wherein the digital content comprises digital images.

19. The system of claim 16 wherein the means for receiving the indication of one or more words included in the block of text comprises:

means for providing to the user a visual indication of one or more words in the block of text for which related digital content is available; and

means for receiving from the user a selection of one or more of the words for which the visual indication is provided, wherein the means for receiving is coupled to the means for providing.

20. The system of claim 16 , further comprising means for annotating the block of text, wherein annotating comprises marking each of the one or more words in the block of text with a denotation as to which of the one or more digital content items are associated with the one or more words, and wherein the means for annotating is coupled to the means for associating.