A method includes monitoring, at an upper layer of the UE, PDU activity for one or more PDU sessions that are associated with one or more DNNs. The method includes determining that each of the one or more PDU sessions has a period of inactivity based on at least one of an expiration of an activity check timer, accumulated inactivity cycles, or a dormancy indication associated with each of the one or more PDU sessions. The method includes indicating, to a lower layer of the UE, to provide UE assistance information to a base station for a RRC connection release between the UE and the base station.