Method and apparatus for conserving battery life and network resources under abnormal call release conditions

A mobile device adapted to release radio resources for a call in a gateway to core network comprising:

• a communications subsystem;
• a monitoring module adapted to monitor for an inactive period following receipt of a speech packet from the network at the mobile device, wherein the received speech packet is generated in a GERAN (GSM EDGE Radio Access Network) codec layer for the call, and to determine if the inactive period exceeds a predetermined threshold before receipt of another speech packet at the mobile device and wherein the received speech packets are processed in a GERAN codec layer of the mobile device;
• and
• a processor configured to initiate a disconnection from the gateway to core network if the inactive period exceeds the predetermined threshold and wherein the received speech packets are received across an A/Iu-cs interface.

A gateway to core network element adapted to release radio resources for a call comprising:

• a communications subsystem;
• a monitoring module adapted to monitor for an inactive period following receipt of a speech packet at the network element from a mobile device, wherein the speech packet is generated in a GERAN (GSM EDGE Radio Access Network) codec layer for the call, to determine if the inactive period exceeds a predetermined threshold before receipt of another speech packet at the network element wherein the speech packets are generated in the GERAN codec layer of the mobile device;
• and
• a processor configured to initiate a disconnection with the mobile device if the inactive period exceeds the predetermined threshold wherein the gateway to core network element is a generic access network controller and wherein the monitoring module is adapted to monitor an A/Iu-cs interface.