Method and system for detecting live over the top (OTT) streams in communications networks

1. A method for detecting a live over-the-top (OTT) stream, comprising:

analyzing a received request for an OTT stream to determine whether the requested OTT stream is suspected as a live OTT stream;

requesting a plurality of time-shifted OTT streams respective of the requested OTT stream when the analysis of the received request indicates that the requested OTT stream is suspected as a live OTT stream; and

analyzing the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams based in part on at least one time shift between the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams to determine whether the requested OTT stream is a live OTT stream.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein analyzing the received request further comprises:

applying a filter to determine if the requested OTT stream is suspected as a live OTT stream;

extracting at least a content identification (ID) from the suspected live OTT stream;

counting a number of requests to a stream having the extracted content ID; and

triggering the analysis of the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams when the number of requests exceeds a predefined threshold.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

transferring the received request to an OTT content server if the requested OTT stream is not suspected as a live OTT stream.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein applying a filter further comprising:

searching for identifiers indicating that the requested OTT stream is for a live OTT stream.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the identifiers include at least one of: a port identification, a type of the request, a source of the request, a video-on-demand identifier, a play list, and a master play list.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the analysis of the requested OTT stream is based on a protocol utilized to stream the OTT stream.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the protocol is any one of: real time messaging protocol (RTMP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) live streaming (HLS) protocol, real time streaming protocol (RTSP), HTTP dynamic streaming, and moving picture experts group (MPEG)-dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH).

8. The method of claim 2 , wherein analyzing the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams further comprising:

extracting a bit stream from each of the analyzed time-shifted OTT streams;

comparing the extracted bit streams to each other; and

determining the requested stream to be a live stream, when the extracted bit streams are substantially matched and no time-shift between the extracted bit streams is greater than or equal to the corresponding time-shift between the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein each extracted bit stream is at least an I/B/P frame sequence.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

comparing metadata associated with each of the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams; and

determining the request stream to be a live OTT stream when metadata associated with each of the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams are substantially matched to each other.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the OTT live stream further includes a linear OTT stream and a replicated OTT stream.

12. 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 .

13. A system for detecting a live over-the-top (OTT) stream, comprising:

a processing unit; and

a memory, the memory containing instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, configure the system to:

analyze a received request for an OTT stream to determine whether the requested OTT stream is suspected as a live OTT stream;

request a plurality of time-shifted OTT streams respective of the requested OTT stream, when the analysis of the received request indicates that the requested OTT stream is suspected as a live OTT stream; and

analyze the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams based in part on at least one time shift between the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams to determine whether the requested OTT stream is a live OTT stream.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the system is further configured to:

apply a filter to determine if the requested OTT stream is suspected as a live OTT stream;

extract at least a content identification (ID) from the suspected live OTT stream;

count a number of requests to a stream having the extracted content ID; and

trigger the analysis of the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams when the number of requests exceeds a predefined threshold.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the system is further configured to:

transfer the received request to an OTT content server if the requested OTT stream is not suspected as a live OTT stream.

16. The system of claim 14 , wherein the system is further configured to:

search for identifiers indicating that the received request is for a live OTT stream.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the identifiers include at least one of: a port identification, a type of the request, a source of the request, a video-on-demand identifier, a play list, and a master play list.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the analysis of the received request is based on a protocol utilized to stream the OTT stream.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the protocol is any one of: real time messaging protocol (RTMP), hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) live streaming (HLS) protocol, real time streaming protocol (RTSP), HTTP dynamic streaming, and moving picture experts group (MPEG)-dynamic adaptive streaming over HTTP (DASH).

20. The system of claim 14 , wherein the system is further configured to:

extract a bit stream from each of the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams;

compare the extracted bit streams to each other; and

determine the requested OTT stream to be a live stream when the extracted bit streams are substantially matched and no time-shift between the extracted bit streams is greater than or equal to the corresponding time-shift between the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams.

21. The system of claim 20 , wherein each extracted bit stream is at least an I/B/P frame sequence.

22. The system of claim 20 , wherein the system is further configured to:

compare metadata associated with each of the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams; and

determine the requested OTT stream to be a live OTT stream when metadata associated with each of the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams are substantially matched.

23. The system of claim 13 , wherein the OTT live stream further includes a linear OTT stream and a replicated OTT stream.

24. An apparatus, comprising:

a processing unit; and

a memory, the memory containing instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, configure the system to:

receive a request for an over-the-top (OTT) stream;

apply a filter to determine if the requested OTT stream is suspected as a live OTT stream;

upon determining that the requested OTT stream is suspected as a live OTT stream, requesting a plurality of time-shifted OTT streams respective of the requested OTT stream;

extract at least a content identification (ID) from the suspected live OTT stream;

count a number of requests to a stream having the extracted content ID; and

trigger the analysis of the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams when the number of requests exceed a predefined threshold, wherein the analysis is based in part on at least one time shift between streams of the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams.

25. An apparatus, comprising:

a processing unit; and

a memory, the memory containing instructions that, when executed by the processing unit, configure the system to:

analyze a received request for an over-the-top (OTT) stream to determine whether the requested OTT stream is suspected as a live OTT stream;

request a plurality of time-shifted over-the-top (OTT) streams respective of the requested OTT stream when the analysis indicates that the requested OTT stream is suspected as a live OTT stream;

extract a bit stream from each of the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams;

compare the extracted bit streams to each other based in part on at least one time shift between streams of the plurality of time-shifted OTT streams; and

determine the requested OTT stream to be a live stream if the extracted bit streams are substantially matched.