Method and system for self-detection and efficient transmission of real-time popular recorded over-the-top streams over communication networks

1. A method for delivery of currently popular recorded over-the-top (OTT) streams in a broadband network, comprising:

monitoring OTT streams flow in the broadband network using a stream classifier;

for each monitored OTT stream,

retrieving, from an OTT content server, a plurality of time-shifted copies of content similar to the content of the monitored OTT stream;

determining, using the stream classifier and based on the plurality of time-shifted copies of content, if a type of the monitored OTT stream is of a recorded OTT content;

upon determining that the type of the monitored OTT stream is of recorded OTT content,

determining an efficiency in delivering the recorded OTT content in a multicast format, wherein the determination is based on a number of requests for the recorded OTT content having substantially the same start window;

reformatting the recorded OTT content into a multicast OTT stream, when the recorded OTT stream can be efficiently delivered in a multicast format; and

delivering the recorded OTT content as a multicast OTT stream to a plurality of user edge devices over the broadband network.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining if the recorded OTT content is a real time popular stream;

determining an availability of multicast resources in the broadband network; and

determining a number of requests to the recorded OTT content for playing the recorded OTT content during a start time window relatively to the beginning of the recorded OTT content.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the recorded OTT content is determined to be a real time popular stream when a number of requests to the recorded OTT content during a preconfigured time frame exceeds a preconfigured threshold.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the real time popularity determination is independently performed for each preconfigured time frame.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein determining the number of requests to the recorded OTT content for playing the recorded OTT content during a start time window relatively to the beginning of the recorded OTT content, further comprising:

determining if a trick mode associated with the requests is active.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the information related to the availability of multicast resources in the broadband network is at least one of: a number of available multicast channels and an available bandwidth for each channel.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein delivering the recorded OTT content further comprising:

provisioning multicast resources in the broadband network to deliver the multicast OTT stream to a user edge device; and

provisioning multicast resources in the user edge device to receive and play the multicast OTT stream over the user edge device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein reformatting the recorded OTT content 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 recorded OTT content is of any one of: a managed content, and unmanaged content.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the recorded OTT content includes any one of: on-demand content, non-live content, and non-linear content.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the broadband network is at least one of: a fixed-line network, a cellular network, and a wireless network.

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 delivery of unmanaged over-the-top (OTT) streams in a cellular 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 broadband network using a stream classifier;

retrieve, from an OTT content server, a plurality of time-shifted copies of content similar to the content of the monitored OTT stream;

for each monitored OTT stream, determine, using the stream classifier and based on the plurality of time-shifted copies of content, if a type of the monitored OTT stream is of a recorded OTT;

upon determining that the type of the monitored OTT stream is of recorded OTT content, determine an efficiency in delivering the recorded OTT content in a multicast format, wherein the determination is based on a number of requests for the recorded OTT content having substantially the same start window;

reformat the recorded OTT content into a multicast OTT stream, when the recorded OTT content can be efficiently delivered in a multicast format; and

deliver the recorded OTT content as a multicast OTT stream to a plurality of user edge devices over the broadband network.

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

determine if the recorded OTT content is a real time popular stream;

determine an availability of multicast resources in the broadband network; and

determine a number of requests to the recorded OTT content for playing the recorded OTT content during a start time window relatively to the beginning of the recorded OTT content.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the recorded OTT content is determined to be a real time popular stream when a number of requests to the recorded OTT content during a preconfigured time frame exceeds a preconfigured threshold.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the real time popularity determination is independently performed for each preconfigured time frame.

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

determine if a trick mode associated with the requests is active.

18. The system of claim 14 , wherein the information related to the availability of multicast resources in the broadband network is at least one of: a number of available multicast channels and an available bandwidth for each channel.

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

provision multicast resources in the broadband network to deliver the multicast OTT stream to a user edge device; and

provision multicast resources in the user edge device to receive and play the multicast OTT stream over the user edge device.

20. The system of claim 13 , wherein the recorded OTT content is of any one of: a managed content and unmanaged content.

21. The system of claim 13 , wherein the recorded OTT content includes any one of: on-demand content, non-live content, and non-linear content.

22. The system of claim 13 , wherein the broadband network is at least one of: a fixed-line network, a cellular network, and a wireless network.