Systems and methods for capturing user consumption of information

1. A client device configured to assist in identifying user consumption of information, the client device comprising:

one or more hardware processors;

a screen configured to display screen images thereon;

a storage device;

memory storing computer instructions, the computer instructions when executed by the one or more hardware processors configured to perform:

automatically capturing a series of screen image snapshots being presented on the screen;

reducing a resolution of each screen image snapshot in the series of screen image snapshots to a reduced resolution;

automatically capturing metadata associated with each screen image snapshot in the series of screen image snapshots, the metadata at least including a timestamp;

identifying one or more duplicates in the series of screen image snapshots;

discarding the one or more duplicates from the series of screen image snapshots to form a reduced series;

modifying the metadata to identify the one or more duplicates discarded as having been discarded;

storing the reduced series of reduced-resolution screen image snapshots and the modified metadata in the storage device; and

after detecting a trigger condition, uploading the reduced series of reduced-resolution screen image snapshots and the revised metadata over a computer network to a processing server configured to evaluate the reduced series of reduced-resolution screen image snapshots and the modified metadata to determine whether a user may have consumed a particular content item.

2. The client device of claim 1 , wherein the reduced resolution is a predetermined resolution.

3. The client device of claim 1 , wherein the reduced resolution is based on available storage in the storage device.

4. The client device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are configured to perform automatically capturing the series of screen image snapshots at a predetermined rate.

5. The client device of claim 4 , wherein the predetermined rate is one screen image snapshot per second.

6. The client device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are configured to stop automatically capturing screen image snapshots when a battery goes below a threshold battery level.

7. The client device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are configured to stop automatically capturing screen image snapshots when available storage on the storage device exceeds a threshold storage value.

8. The client device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are configured to stop automatically capturing screen image snapshots in response to a user instruction.

9. The client device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are configured to stop automatically capturing screen image snapshots when the screen is off.

10. The client device of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are configured to stop automatically capturing screen image snapshots when an electronic keyboard is active.

11. A processor-based method of capturing user consumption of information, the method comprising:

automatically capturing a series of screen image snapshots being presented on a screen of a client device;

reducing a resolution of each screen image snapshot in the series of screen image snapshots to a reduced resolution;

automatically capturing metadata associated with each screen image snapshot in the series of screen image snapshots, the metadata at least including a timestamp;

identifying one or more duplicates in the series of screen image snapshots;

discarding the one or more duplicates from the series of screen image snapshots to form a reduced series;

modifying the metadata to identify the one or more duplicates discarded as having been discarded;

storing the reduced series of reduced-resolution screen image snapshots and the modified metadata in a storage device; and

after detecting a trigger condition, uploading the reduced series of reduced-resolution screen image snapshots and the revised metadata over a computer network to a processing server configured to evaluate the reduced series of reduced-resolution screen image snapshots and the modified metadata to determine whether a user may have consumed a particular content item.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the reduced resolution is a predetermined resolution.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the reduced resolution is based on available storage in the storage device.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein the automatically capturing the series of screen image snapshots includes automatically capturing the series of screen image snapshots at a predetermined rate.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the predetermined rate is one screen image snapshot per second.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising stopping automatically capturing screen image snapshots when a battery goes below a threshold battery level.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising stopping automatically capturing screen image snapshots when available storage on the storage device exceeds a threshold storage value.

18. The method of claim 11 , further comprising stopping automatically capturing screen image snapshots in response to a user instruction.

19. The method of claim 11 , further comprising stopping automatically capturing screen image snapshots when the screen is off.

20. The method of claim 11 , further comprising stopping automatically capturing screen image snapshots when an electronic keyboard is active.