Patent ID: 8473325

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of automatically detecting issues and facilitating the transmission of alert messages in a home network consisting of a plurality of consumer electronic devices coupled to a service node, the method comprising: storing, in a computing device, information regarding home entities in an inventory database, the entities comprising the household, one or more users within the household, devices in the household, applications running on the devices, and a community of which the household is included; defining usage classes for each entity, the usage classes denoting a primary function associated with the home entity, and comprising networking, productivity, and entertainment; assigning, by operation of a processor on the computing device, an index value to each usage class for each entity, the index value comprising an integer value within a fixed range, and reflecting a relative level of satisfaction associated with the entity for each respective usage class; monitoring, by operation of the processor on the computing device, data regarding usage trends, performance characteristics, and external variables associated with the home entities; modifying one or more of the index values based on the monitored data; and facilitating the transmission of messages sent from a computing device regarding services or products related to the home entities from one or more parties, wherein the messages are conformed to the index values.