DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 10/21/2025 has been entered.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 7-9 and 12-14 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou et al. “Zhou” US 2019/0357238 in view of Fan et al. “Fan” WO-2021062973-A1 (See attached for English citations).
Regarding claims 7 and 14, Zhou teaches a method and a terminal comprising:
a receiving unit configured to receive information for performing configuration related to cross-carrier scheduling (a wireless device receives configuration parameters which indicate cross-carrier scheduling; Paragraphs 386-387 and 391); and
a control unit configured to, in a case where the information for performing the configuration related to the cross-carrier scheduling indicates that a channel in a first cell is scheduled by a second cell, control which of the first cell or the second cell is used for monitoring downlink control information scheduling the channel in the first cell, based on whether the second cell is deactivated or activated (the first cell has BWPs for cross-carrier scheduling a second cell or third cell. The BWPs can be activated and the UE will monitor the second PDCCH (i.e. monitoring the downlink) and detect DCI; Paragraphs 386-387 and 391. Paragraphs 384-385, which further expounds on the scheduling cited, teaches that DCI detection for cross-scheduling of a second cell is done if the second cell is activated. Therefore, the monitoring of the DCI scheduling is based on if a second cell is active or not as claimed),
wherein the first cell is a primary cell and the second cell is a secondary cell (Paragraphs 374 and 391 discuss primary and secondary cells).
While Zhou teaches scheduling based on the activation state of the SCell, Zhou does not expressly disclose the second cell schedules a PDSCH in the first cell; however, Fan teaches the ability for the PDSCH of a first cell to be scheduled through the second cell (Page 53 “Condition 1”). The first cell may be a primary cell (Page 51, third to last paragraph starting with “It should be understood”). Thus one can see a secondary cell can schedule the PDSCH of a primary cell as claimed. When combined with the scheduling based on the activation state of the SCell of Zhou, one can see the scheduling of the PDSCH of a primary cell by a secondary cell is done when the Scell is activated.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Zhou to include scheduling a PDSCH of a PCell by a SCell as taught by Fan.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that the system can improve the efficiency of data transmission as taught by Fan; Page 2 first paragraph under the Summary of the invention.
Regarding claim 8, Zhou teaches in a case where the second cell is activated, the control unit monitors the downlink control information in the second cell and controls reception or transmission of the channel in the first cell that is cross-carrier scheduled by the downlink control information (The information received from a base station is for cross-carrier scheduling as discussed in claim 7. Activation of the second cell may occur based on received information from the base station and then the device monitors the PDCCH; Paragraphs 359-360).
Regarding claim 9, Zhou teaches wherein in a case where the second cell is deactivated, the control unit monitors the downlink control information in the first cell without monitoring the downlink control information in the second cell and controls reception or transmission of the channel in the first cell that is scheduled by the downlink control information (the first cell has BWPs for cross-carrier scheduling a second cell or third cell. The BWPs can be activated and the UE will monitor the second PDCCH (i.e. monitoring the downlink) and detect DCI; Paragraphs 386-387 and 391. The UE may receive configuration information including activation/deactivation of a cell; Paragraph 71. Thus one can see the DCI is monitored in the first cell, regardless of the activation status of the second cell. Further, in the event the second cell is deactivated (per paragraph 71). Paragraph 252 teaches that the wireless device would stop monitoring a downlink when the cell is deactivated).
Regarding claims 12, Zhou teaches a base station comprising:
a transmitting unit configured to transmit information for performing configuration related to cross-carrier scheduling (a wireless device receives configuration parameters which indicate cross-carrier scheduling; Paragraphs 386-387 and 391); and
a control unit configured to, in a case where the information for performing the configuration related to the cross-carrier scheduling indicates that a channel in a first cell is scheduled by a second cell, control which of the first cell or the second cell is used for transmitting downlink control information scheduling the channel in the first cell, based on whether the second cell is deactivated or activated (the first cell has BWPs for cross-carrier scheduling a second cell or third cell. The BWPs can be activated and the UE will monitor the second PDCCH and transmit information; Paragraphs 386-387 and 391),
wherein the first cell is a primary cell and the second cell is a secondary cell (Paragraphs 374 and 391 discuss primary and secondary cells).
While Zhou teaches scheduling based on the activation state of the SCell, Zhou does not expressly disclose the second cell schedules a PDSCH in the first cell; however, Fan teaches the ability for the PDSCH of a first cell to be scheduled through the second cell (Page 53 “Condition 1”). The first cell may be a primary cell (Page 51, third to last paragraph starting with “It should be understood”). Thus one can see a secondary cell can schedule the PDSCH of a primary cell as claimed. When combined with the scheduling based on the activation state of the SCell of Zhou, one can see the scheduling of the PDSCH of a primary cell by a secondary cell is done when the Scell is activated.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Zhou to include scheduling a PDSCH of a PCell by a SCell as taught by Fan.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that the system can improve the efficiency of data transmission as taught by Fan; Page 2 first paragraph under the Summary of the invention.
Regarding claim 13, Zhou teaches a system comprising a terminal; and a base station, wherein the terminal includes:
a receiving unit configured to receive information for performing configuration related to cross-carrier scheduling (a wireless device receives configuration parameters which indicate cross-carrier scheduling; Paragraphs 386-387 and 391); and
a control unit configured to, in a case where the information for performing the configuration related to the cross-carrier scheduling indicates that a channel in a first cell is scheduled by a second cell, control which of the first cell or the second cell is used for monitoring downlink control information scheduling the channel in the first cell, based on whether the second cell is deactivated or activated (the first cell has BWPs for cross-carrier scheduling a second cell or third cell. The BWPs can be activated and the UE will monitor the second PDCCH (i.e. monitoring the downlink) and detect DCI; Paragraphs 386-387 and 391), and
the base station includes:
a transmitting unit configured to transmit information for performing configuration related to cross-carrier scheduling (a wireless device receives configuration parameters which indicate cross-carrier scheduling; Paragraphs 386-387 and 391); and
a control unit configured to, in a case where the information for performing the configuration related to the cross-carrier scheduling indicates that a channel in a first cell is scheduled by a second cell, control which of the first cell or the second cell is used for transmitting downlink control information scheduling the channel in the first cell, based on whether the second cell is deactivated or activated (the first cell has BWPs for cross-carrier scheduling a second cell or third cell. The BWPs can be activated and the UE will monitor the second PDCCH and transmit information; Paragraphs 386-387 and 391),
wherein the first cell is a primary cell and the second cell is a secondary cell (Paragraphs 374 and 391 discuss primary and secondary cells).
While Zhou teaches scheduling based on the activation state of the SCell, Zhou does not expressly disclose the second cell schedules a PDSCH in the first cell; however, Fan teaches the ability for the PDSCH of a first cell to be scheduled through the second cell (Page 53 “Condition 1”). The first cell may be a primary cell (Page 51, third to last paragraph starting with “It should be understood”). Thus one can see a secondary cell can schedule the PDSCH of a primary cell as claimed. When combined with the scheduling based on the activation state of the SCell of Zhou, one can see the scheduling of the PDSCH of a primary cell by a secondary cell is done when the Scell is activated.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Zhou to include scheduling a PDSCH of a PCell by a SCell as taught by Fan.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that the system can improve the efficiency of data transmission as taught by Fan; Page 2 first paragraph under the Summary of the invention.
Claim(s) 10 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Zhou in view of Fan and further in view of Yi et al. “Yi” US 2020/0313833.
Regarding claim 10, Zhou teaches in a case where the second cell is activated, the control unit monitors the downlink control information in the second cell and controls reception or transmission of the channel in the first cell that is cross-carrier scheduled by the downlink control information (The information received from a base station is for cross-carrier scheduling as discussed in claim 7. Activation of the second cell may occur based on received information from the base station and then the device monitors the PDCCH; Paragraphs 359-360). Zhou does not expressly teach DCI includes a value of a carrier indicator field for the first cell; however, Yi teaches the downlink control information that is monitored in the second cell includes a value of a carrier indicator field indicating the first cell (the wireless device monitors a DCI of a second cell which includes a resource assignment information/CORESET information configured for the first cell; Paragraphs 441 and 444), thus one can see that based on the monitoring of DCI on one cell, the device can obtain information of the first cell.
Thus it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art at the time of the effective filing to modify the teachings of Zhou to include the DCI in a second cell including identifier information of the first cell as taught by Yi.
One would be motivated to make the modification such that the device can properly perform cross-carrier scheduling as taught by Yi; Paragraph 444.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 7-10 and 12-14 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
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/BRANDON M RENNER/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411