Scheduling Techinque for Multiple Cells

DETAILED ACTION Response to Remark This communication is considered fully responsive to the amendment filed on 09/23/26. a. No claims have been amended. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103 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 of this title, 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. Claims 50, 53-58, 61-64, and 67-69 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu et al. (US 2021/0258999, “Xu”; Provisional 62/976,065 includes the same Figs.1-12 of Xu and the related paragraphs) in view of Park et al. (US 2021/0298050, “Park”). Regarding claim 50, Xu discloses a method of receiving scheduling information at a radio device from a network node of a radio access network (RAN) in radio communication with the radio device through at least two cells (See Fig.5), the method comprising: - receiving configuration information from the network node (See 505 Fig.5 and ¶.66, the base station may transmit, to the UE, a TDRA configuration for multiple cells; See ¶.66, the TDRA configuration may be included in a configuration message such as RRC), the configuration information being indicative of a table in which each of a plurality of indices are mapped to a plurality of table references (See Fig.3, PNG media_image1.png 230 726 media_image1.png Greyscale See Fig.7, PNG media_image2.png 421 715 media_image2.png Greyscale See Fig.9, PNG media_image3.png 462 706 media_image3.png Greyscale ), each table reference indicating scheduling information for a respective one of the at least two cells (See Fig.5-10 and ¶.67, each TDRA, of the multiple TDRAs, may correspond to a different scheduled communication; See ¶.97, the single DCI message includes multiple TDRA index values in corresponding multiple TDRA fields. In this case, each TDRA index value may correspond to a different cell of multiple cells scheduled by the single DCI message); and - receiving, from the network node (See 510 Fig.5, Fig.6-10, and ¶.67, UE receives a single DCI message that schedules communications on multiple cells), control information comprising an index into the table to indicate the scheduling information for each of the at least two cells (See Fig.5 and ¶.68, PNG media_image4.png 284 624 media_image4.png Greyscale ), Xu does not explicitly disclose newly added limitations “wherein the plurality of table references refer to entries in respective tables indicating, as the scheduling information or as part of the scheduling information, at least two different states or values of: a rate matching indicator; and/or a zero power channel state information reference signal (ZP CSI-RS) trigger.” However, Park discloses “wherein the plurality of table references refer to entries in respective tables indicating, as the scheduling information or as part of the scheduling information, at least two different states or values of: a rate matching indicator; and/or a zero power channel state information reference signal (ZP CSI-RS) trigger” (Park, See ¶.32, the plurality of scheduling modes related to the rate matching of PDSCHs may include scheduling modes which differ in a manner of allocating signals for performing rate matching to resources when the terminal receives PDSCHs. For example, signals performing rate matching may include at least one of a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS) and an aperiodic zero power channel status information-reference signal (ZP CSI-RS); See ¶.42, the first and second cells may perform scheduling such that the overlapping area does not include resources corresponding to PTRS or aperiodic ZP CSI-RS included in the first PDSCH PDSCH_1 and resources corresponding to PTRS or aperiodic ZP CSI-RS included in the second PDSCH PDSCH_2; See ¶.73, Referring to FIGS.1 and 8A, the first and second cells may operate in a first scheduling mode such that a resource element allocated with data and a resource element allocated with ZP CSI-RS do not overlap each other in the first and second PDSCHs PDSCH_1 and PDSCH_2. Hereinafter, the first and second cells operating in the first scheduling mode will be described). Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply the method of “the plurality of table references referring to entries in respective tables indicating, as the scheduling information or as part of the scheduling information, at least two different states or values of: a rate matching indicator; and/or a zero power channel state information reference signal (ZP CSI-RS) trigger” as taught by Park into the system of Xu, so that it provides a way of selecting a plurality of scheduling modes related to rate matching of PDSCHs (Park, See ¶.36) and preventing the first PDSCH is allocated to not overlap the second PDSCH (Park, See ¶.74). Regarding claim 53, Xu discloses “the table comprises a first column comprising a first reference indicative of the scheduling information of a first cell of the at least two cells and a second column comprising a second reference indicative of the scheduling information of a second cell of the at least two cells (See Fig.5-10 and ¶.97, the single DCI message includes multiple TDRA index values in corresponding multiple TDRA fields. In this case, each TDRA index value may correspond to a different cell of multiple cells scheduled by the single DCI message. The example single DCI message of FIG. 8 includes multiple fields (e.g., two fields) dedicated to carrying bits of respective TDRA index values. By using multiple TDRA fields and corresponding multiple TDRA index values, scheduling flexibility may be increased; Specially See Fig.8, PNG media_image5.png 357 647 media_image5.png Greyscale Examiner’s Note: Applicant’s specification defines that “¶.[0014] whenever referring to a column and/or a row of a table, the expressions column and row may be interchanged. Therefore, Cell 0 and Cell 1 in the DCI are considered as a first column and a second column. The table format is seen as an obvious design choice, since it appears another format would work equally well, wherein the particular format does not affect the patentable operability of the invention).” Regarding claim 54, Xu discloses “the plurality of table references comprises a first reference to a first table and a second reference to a second table; a first table comprising comprises scheduling information of a first cell of the at least two cells and a second table comprises scheduling information of a second cell of the at least two cells, (See 925 Fig.9, PUSCH mapping type; See 1010 Fig.10, ‘TDRA table for reference cell’; See ¶.53, the row index may correspond to a set of TDRA parameters (sometimes referred to as scheduling parameters or scheduling information)).” Regarding claim 55, Xu discloses “at least one of the table references refers to a resource allocation list; and/or the scheduling information comprise alternatives of a resource allocation; and/or the control information comprises a time domain resource assignment (TDRA) field that is indicative of the index (See Fig.5-10, TDRA field and each TDRA table; See ¶.21, FIGS. 5-10 are diagrams illustrating examples of time domain resource assignment for multiple cells scheduled by a single DCI message, in accordance with the present disclosure).” Regarding claim 56, Xu discloses “the configuration information is, or is received in, one or more radio resource control (RRC) messages (¶.66, the TDRA configuration may be included in a configuration message, such as a radio resource control (RRC) message (e.g., an RRC configuration message)).” Regarding claim 57, Xu discloses “the control information is, or is received in, one or more downlink control information (DCI) messages; and/or the control information is received on a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) of the radio communication (See 510 Fig.5 and ¶.67, UE receives a single DCI message that schedules communications on multiple cells).” Regarding claim 58, Xu discloses “the scheduling information for each of the at least two cells is or comprises a resource allocation for each of the at least two cells (See Fig.5-10, TDRA for two cells).” Regarding claim 61, Xu discloses “the configuration information or the control information or a further control message from the network node comprises an indicator for selectively enabling and disabling cross-carrier scheduling for the at least two cells or an indicator for selectively enabling and disabling multi-cell scheduling for the at least two cells (See ¶.58, DCI that schedules a communication for a cell via which the DCI is transmitted may be referred to as self-carrier (or self-cell) scheduling DCI. In some cases, DCI that schedules a communication for a cell via which the DCI is transmitted may be referred to as cross-carrier (or cross-cell) scheduling DCI. In some aspects, the DCI may be cross-carrier scheduling DCI, and may or may not be self-carrier scheduling DCI).” Regarding claim 64, Xu discloses “the control information is received on a first layer of a protocol stack of the radio communication and the configuration information is received on a second layer of the protocol stack of the radio communication, the second layer being above the first layer in the protocol stack (See ¶.66, RRC, which is a higher layer, configuration message; See ¶.52, DCI transmitted in PDCCH, which is a physical layer).” Regarding claim 67, it is a method claim at implemented at RAN side corresponding to the method claim 50 at a radio device and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim. Regarding claim 68, it is a radio device claim corresponding to the method claim 50, except the limitation “a memory and processing circuitry (See Fig.2)” and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim. Regarding claim 69, it is a network node claim corresponding to the method claim 67, except the limitation “a memory and processing circuitry (See Fig.2)” and is therefore rejected for the similar reasons set forth in the rejection of the claim. Claims 62 and 63 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Xu in view of Nguyen et al. (US 2016/0374082, “Nguyen”). Regarding claim 62, Xu discloses “the radio device applies index in the control information to the table for determining the scheduling information of each of the at least two cells if the indicator is indicative of enabling cross-carrier scheduling for the at least two cells or if the indicator is indicative of enabling multi-cell scheduling for the at least two cells (Xu, See Fig.5-10),” but does not explicitly disclose the limitation “enabling cross-carrier scheduling.” However, Nguyen discloses “enabling cross-carrier scheduling (Nguyen, See ¶.33, if cross-carrier scheduling is enabled).” Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply the method of “enabling cross-carrier scheduling” as taught by Nguyen into the system of Xu, so that it provides a way of enabling the PDSCH and PUSCH resource on one carrier component to be scheduled by PDCCH (Nguyen, See ¶.6 and ¶.33). Regarding claim 63, Xu discloses the multiple cells, but does not explicitly disclose what Nguyen discloses “the at least two cells comprise at least one secondary cell (SCell) and further comprise one primary cell (PCell) or one primary secondary cell (PSCell) or one special cell (spCell), wherein the configuration information and the control information are received in the PCell or the PSCell or the spCell (Nguyen, See Fig.4 and ¶.24, SCell and PCell).” Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date to apply “the at least two cells comprise at least one secondary cell (SCell) and further comprise one primary cell (PCell) or one primary secondary cell (PSCell) or one special cell (spCell), wherein the configuration information and the control information are received in the PCell or the PSCell or the spCell” as taught by Nguyen into the system of Xu, so that it provides a way of performing scheduling for data transmission on the aggregated SCell and/or PCell (Nguyen, See ¶.20-21). Response to Arguments Applicant's arguments filed have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. At pages 7-9, with respect to claim 50, applicant argues that any combination of Xu and Park fail to teach or suggest "a plurality of table references [that] refer to entries in respective tables indicating, as the scheduling information or as part of the scheduling information, at least two different states or values of a rate matching indicator and/or a zero power channel state information reference signal (ZP CSI-RS) trigger” by asserting that; “None of the relied-upon passages, however, teach, suggest, or have anything to do with a plurality of table references that refer to entries in respective tables and that indicate, as the scheduling information or as part of the scheduling information, at least two different states or values of a rate matching indicator...and/or... a zero power channel state information reference signal (ZP CSI-RS) trigger," as recited in claim 50.” In reply, as rejected in claim 1, Xu teaches or suggests the limitations “the configuration information being indicative of a table in which each of a plurality of indices are mapped to a plurality of table references, each table reference indicating scheduling information for a respective one of the at least two cells and receiving, from the network node, control information comprising an index into the table to indicate the scheduling information for each of the at least two cells.” In other words, Xu discloses that, for PDSCH downlink communication, DCI (Downlink Control Information) is used for scheduling the PDSCH communication (Xu, See ¶.54) and Figs.6-9 shows the DCI table, which is used for the scheduling, comprising Row Index of at least two cells as shown below: PNG media_image6.png 313 649 media_image6.png Greyscale ). But, Xu is silent on the wherein clause, “wherein the plurality of table references refer to entries in respective tables indicating as part of the scheduling information, at least two different states or values of: a rate matching indicator; and/or a zero power channel state information reference signal (ZP CSI-RS) trigger. However, Park discloses those claim limitations, i.e., “at least two different states or values of: a rate matching indicator; and/or a zero power channel state information reference signal (ZP CSI-RS) trigger” and the limitations explicitly read on: ¶.[0008] of Park discloses “receive a first physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) from a first cell and a second PDSCH from a second cell based on a selected scheduling mode from among a plurality of scheduling modes related to rate matching of PDSCHs; and a processor configured to perform processing on the first PDSCH and the second PDSCH based on the selected scheduling mode [emphasis added]. ¶.[0032] of Park discloses “the plurality of scheduling modes related to the rate matching of PDSCHs may include scheduling modes which differ in a manner of allocating signals for performing rate matching to resources when the terminal receives PDSCHs. For example, signals performing rate matching may include at least one of a phase tracking reference signal (PTRS) and an aperiodic zero power channel status information-reference signal (ZP CSI-RS). This will be described in detail with respect to FIGS. 5 to 8C. However, descriptions with respect to the PTRS and the aperiodic ZP CSI-RS are examples, and example embodiments are not limited thereto. Example embodiments may be applied to various reference signals transmitted through PDSCHs [emphasis added]. ¶.[0033] of Park discloses “In an example embodiment, the plurality of scheduling modes related to the rate matching of PDSCHs may include scheduling modes which differ in a manner of allocating signals for performing rate matching to resources when the terminal receives PDSCHs. transmitting, by the first and second cells, a downlink control indicator (DCI) indicating the selected scheduling mode to the terminal, or setting the selected scheduling mode through upper signaling with the terminal [emphasis added]. ¶.[0042] of Park discloses “the first and second cells 110 and 120 may perform scheduling such that the overlapping area includes at least one first resource corresponding to a PTRS or an aperiodic ZP CSI-RS included in the second PDSCH PDSCH_2 from among resources of the first PDSCH PDSCH_1, and the overlapping area includes at least one second resource corresponding to PTRS or aperiodic ZP CSI-RS included in the first PDSCH PDSCH_1 from among resources of the second PDSCH PDSCH_2. In another example embodiment, the first and second cells 110 and 120 may perform scheduling such that the overlapping area does not include resources corresponding to PTRS or aperiodic ZP CSI-RS included in the first PDSCH PDSCH_1 and resources corresponding to PTRS or aperiodic ZP CSI-RS included in the second PDSCH PDSCH_2.” ¶.[0043] of Park discloses “In an example embodiment, the first and second cells 110 and 120 may perform scheduling such that the overlapping area includes resource blocks partially or entirely overlapped with resource blocks on which rate matching of the second PDSCH is performed from among resource blocks on which rate matching of the first PDSCH PDSCH_1 is performed. In another example embodiment, the first and second cells 110 and 120 may perform scheduling such that the overlapping area does not include resource blocks partially or entirely overlapped with resource blocks on which rate matching of the second PDSCH is performed from among resource blocks on which rate matching of the first PDSCH PDSCH_1 is performed.” ¶.[0069] of Park discloses “the terminal may perform a second processing operation PC_22 on the pieces of data/ZP CSI-RS allocated to the second resource element RE_2. In more detail, in the pieces of data/ZP CSI-RS allocated to the second resource element RE_2, the terminal 100 demodulates the data in the demodulation method corresponding to the 256 QAM, and may perform rate matching on the ZP CSI-RS. Because the ZP CSI-RS was previously used to obtain the quality of the downlink channel, demodulation for the ZP CSI-RS is unnecessary, so the ZP CSI-RS may be processed by rate matching. In summary, the terminal may process the data allocated to the second resource element RE_2 in a first manner, and may process the ZP CSI-RS allocated to the second resource element RE_2 in a second manner” [emphasis added]. ¶.[0076] of Park discloses “the first cell may not allocate data to the second and fifth resource elements RE_2 and RE_5 to which the ZP CSI-RS of the second PDSCH PDSCH_2 is allocated. The first cell may allocate non-data through rate matching to the second and fifth resource elements RE_2 and RE_5. The first cell may perform the above operation by obtaining scheduling information about resource elements to which ZP CSI-RS is allocated from the second cell 120 in advance. The terminal may perform a rate matching operation on non-data/ZP CSI-RS allocated to the second and fifth resource elements RE_2 and RE_5.” [emphasis added]. In other words, Xu shows the DCI table which is used for the scheduling; and Park teaches or suggests the plurality of scheduling modes related to the rate matching of PDSCHs. Further, Park discloses that signals performing rate matching may include an aperiodic zero power channel status information-reference signal (ZP CSI-RS), so the ZP CSI-RS may be processed by rate matching. Consequently, the combination of Xu and Park teach or suggest the argued wherein clause limitations and therefore, the examiner respectfully disagrees. Conclusion THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a). A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action. Contact Information Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Jung H Park whose telephone number is 571-272-8565. The examiner can normally be reached M-F: 7:00 AM-3:00 PM. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. 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If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /JUNG H PARK/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2411