Cooperative system for measuring electronic media

Abstract

A cooperative electronic media measurement system is disclosed that measures the electronic media usage of one or more individuals by a media research entity. The media research entity defines at least one specialized task useful to the media research entity. The at least one specialized task is performed by a media handler provided by another entity and concerns a handling of electronic media by the media handler. The individual is tracked with at least one software agent of the media research entity. At least one software agent obtains a product of the specialized task performed by the media handler via at least one defined interface that provides interoperability between the media handler and the at least one software agent. Cooperative media handlers automatically obtain information from, or otherwise obtain information about, presented media objects including identification tags, if present, and other information, for collection by the research data collection agents.

1 . A method of measuring the electronic media usage of an individual by a media research entity, including the steps of:
 defining at least one specialized task useful to the media research entity for a media handler provided by a second entity to perform, the at least one specialized task concerning a handling of electronic media by the media handler;   tracking the individual with at least one software agent of the media research entity, wherein at least one of the software agents obtains a product of the specialized task performed by the media handler via at least one defined interface that provides interoperability between the media handler and the at least one software agent; and   receiving from at least one of the software agents the product of the specialized task.