Patent ID: 8385938

Claim:
A method in a mobile communications network supporting mobile radio communication using high speed shared channels associated with a cell coverage area, wherein each high speed shared channel provides connections to a plurality of mobile terminals sharing the high speed shared channel, the method comprising: (a) determining an aggregate load associated with said plurality of mobile terminals sharing the high speed shared channel; (b) detecting inactivity on a first connection provided by the high speed shared channel to one of said plurality of mobile terminals; (c) setting a corresponding inactivity time period for the first connection based on the determined aggregate load associated with said plurality of mobile terminals sharing the high speed shared channel; and, (d) during the inactivity time period, monitoring an activity level of the first connection to determine whether resources of the first connection should be released and, if the monitored activity level does not increase above an activity threshold by the time the inactivity time period expires, releasing the resources of the first connection.