METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EFFICIENT TRANSMISSION OF OVER-THE-TOP STREAMS OVER FIXED-LINE NETWORKS
A method and system for delivery of over-the-top (OTT) streams over a fixed-line network are provided. The method comprises monitoring OTT streams flow in the fixed-line network; determining if the delivery of at least one of the monitored OTT streams improves the efficiency of the fixed-line network when the at least one of the OTT streams is delivered in a multicast format; reformatting the at least one of the OTT streams into a multicast OTT stream; instructing user edge devices connected to the fixed-line network to expect the reception of the multicast OTT stream; and delivering the multicast OTT stream to the user edge devices over the fixed-line network.
1 . A method for delivery of over-the-top (OTT) streams over a fixed-line network, comprising:
monitoring OTT streams flow in the fixed-line network;
determining if the delivery of at least one of the monitored OTT streams improves the efficiency of the fixed-line network when the at least one of the OTT streams is delivered in a multicast format;
reformatting the at least one of the OTT streams into a multicast OTT stream;
instructing user edge devices connected to the fixed-line network to expect the reception of the multicast OTT stream; and
delivering the multicast OTT stream to the user edge devices over the fixed-line network.
2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
computing a multicast network efficiency factor indicating the efficiency of delivery of an OTT stream in a multicast format over the fixed-line network.
3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein determining if the delivery of the at least one of the monitored OTT streams in a multicast format improves the efficiency of the fixed-line network further comprising:
determining whether the at least one of the OTT streams is a multicast-able OTT stream.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the multicast-able OTT stream is any one of: a live OTT stream, a linear OTT stream, and a replicated OTT stream.
5 . The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
determining a popularity of the at least one of the OTT streams.
6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the at least one of the OTT streams is determined to be popular when a number of requests to the at least one of the OTT streams exceeds a predefined threshold.
7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein determining if the at least one of the OTT streams improves the efficiency is based on at least one of: the type of the at least one of the OTT streams, the popularity of the at least one OTT stream, and a value of the multicast efficiency factor.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein reformatting the at least one of the OTT streams into a multicast OTT stream is performed on at least one of: an application layer, and a transport layer.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the fixed-line network includes at least one of: a cable network, a fiber optic network, a wireless local area network, and a digital subscriber line (DSL) network.
10 . A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon instructions for causing one or more processing units to execute the method according to claim 1 .
11 . A system for delivery of over-the-top (OTT) streams in a fixed-line network, comprising:
a processing unit; and
a memory, the memory containing instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, configure the system to:
monitor OTT streams flow in the fixed-line network;
determine if the delivery of at least one of the monitored OTT streams improves the efficiency of the fixed-line network when the at least one of the OTT streams is delivered in a multicast format;
reformat the at least one of OTT streams into a multicast OTT stream;
instruct user edge devices connected to the fixed-line network to expect the reception of the multicast OTT stream; and
deliver the multicast OTT stream to the user edge devices over the fixed-line network.
12 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the system is further configured to:
compute a multicast network efficiency factor indicating the efficiency of delivery of an OTT stream in a multicast format over the fixed-line network.
13 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the system is further configured to:
determine whether the at least one of the OTT streams is a multicast-able OTT stream.
14 . The system of claim 13 , wherein the multicast-able OTT stream is any one of: a live OTT stream, a linear OTT stream, and a replicated OTT stream.
15 . The system of claim 13 , the system is further configured to:
determine a popularity of the at least one of the OTT streams.
16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the at least one of the OTT streams is determined to be popular when a number of requests to the at least one of the OTT streams exceeds a predefined threshold.
17 . The system of claim 15 , wherein determining whether the at least one of the OTT streams improves the efficiency of the network is based on at least one of: the type of the at least one OTT stream, the popularity of the at least one of OTT streams, and a value of the multicast efficiency factor.
18 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the system is further configured to reformat the at least one OTT stream into a multicast OTT stream on at least one of: an application layer, and a transport layer.
19 . The system of claim 11 , wherein the fixed-line network includes at least one of: a cable network, a fiber optic network, a wireless local area network, and a digital subscriber line (DSL) network.
20 . A method for delivery of managed multimedia content in a fixed-line network, comprising:
receiving an indication that a managed content can be delivered in a multicast format;
reformatting the managed content from a unicast format to a multicast format; and
instructing user edge devices connected to the fixed-line network to expect the reception of the managed content in a multicast format.