Cooperative system for measuring electronic media

A method of measuring the electronic media usage associated with a device by a software agent comprising:

• dynamically configuring a media research task performed by a media handler associated with the device to collect media research information, wherein dynamically configuring the media research task includes changing handling of the electronic media by the media handler to filter the media research information based on media research information of interest to generate filtered media research information, the media research information of interest identified by a host in response to a query by the media handler;
• using a processor to obtain by the software agent the filtered media research information from the media handler via a defined interface that provides interoperability between the media handler and the software agent;
• and
• providing the filtered media research information to an entity collecting media research information.

A system to collect media information comprising:

• a processor;
• a media handler to perform a dynamically configurable media research task associated with handling of electronic media, wherein the media research task is dynamically configurable by changing the handling of the electronic media by the media handler to filter the media information based on media research information of interest to generate filtered media information, the media research information of interest identified by a host in response to a query by the media handler;
• and
• a software agent to use the processor to communicate with the media handler via a defined interface that provides interoperability between the media handler and the software agent to enable the software agent to receive the filtered media information associated with the media research task from the media handler.