Systems and methods for capturing user consumption of information
A client device assists in identifying user consumption of information. The client device comprises a hardware processor; a screen; memory storing computer instructions that when executed perform capturing a series of screen image snapshots being presented on the screen; reducing resolution of each screen image snapshot in the series of screen image snapshots; capturing metadata associated with each screen image snapshot in the series of screen image snapshots, the metadata at least including a timestamp; identifying a duplicate in the series of screen image snapshots; discarding the duplicate from the series of screen image snapshots; and uploading the series of captured screen image snapshots to a processing server for processing.
1. A device configured to assist in identifying user consumption of information, the client device comprising:
one or more hardware processors;
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 a screen;
reducing a resolution of each screen image snapshot in the series of screen image snapshots to a reduced resolution;
automatically generating 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 goes below 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;
reducing a resolution of each screen image snapshot in the series of screen image snapshots to a reduced resolution;
automatically generating 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 goes below 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.