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 .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 101
35 U.S.C. 101 reads as follows:
Whoever invents or discovers any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, may obtain a patent therefor, subject to the conditions and requirements of this title.
Claims 1-20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 101 because the claimed invention is directed to an abstract idea without significantly more. Claims 1-8 recites a process, one of the four statutory categories of patentable subject matter. Claims 9-20 recites a machine, one of the four statutory categories of patentable subject matter.
Regarding Claim 1:
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 1:
Claim 1 recites “A method for executing a variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm using a quantum circuit executed on a quantum computer, the method comprising” and is thus a process, one of the four statutory categories of patentable subject matter.
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 1:
“a subset of qubits including at least three of the qubits from a plurality of qubits arranged to execute a linear string of gates, wherein the subset of qubits are arranged vertically and execute the linear string of gates in a horizontal direction” (a mental process that can be performed in the human mind with the aid of pen and paper, i.e. judgement; Selection of a subset of qubits and determining the arrangement of the qubits)
“a first layer comprising a vertically centered arrangement of at least three single qubit gates on each of the linear string of gates for each of the subset of qubits” (a mental process that can be performed in the human mind with the aid of pen and paper, i.e. judgement; Determining the arrangement of the qubit gates)
“a second layer comprising a sequence of entangling gates followed by a single qubit gate on each linear string of gates where each entangling gate entangles the linear string of gates of the subsequent qubit” (a mental process that can be performed in the human mind with the aid of pen and paper, i.e. judgement; Determining the arrangement of the gates)
“a third layer comprising the sequence of the second layer where the third layer does not vertically overlap with the second layer” (a mental process that can be performed in the human mind with the aid of pen and paper, i.e. judgement; Determining a sequence of repeating a pattern)
“outputting, ” (a mental process that can be performed in the human mind with the aid of pen and paper, i.e. judgement)
Claim 1 therefore recites an abstract idea.
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 2:
“generating, by a classical computer, the quantum circuit comprising” (mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component - see MPEP 2106.05(f))
"receiving parameters associated with a physical environment” (This step is directed to data gathering, which is understood to be insignificant extra solution activity - see MPEP 2106.05(g))
“executing, by the quantum computer, the VQE algorithm based on the quantum circuit and the parameters of the physical environment” (mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component - see MPEP 2106.05(f))
“outputting, via the quantum computer, ” (mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component - see MPEP 2106.05(f))
The additional elements as disclosed above alone or in combination do not integrate the judicial exception into practical application as they are mere insignificant extra solution activity in combination of generic computer functions being implemented with generic computer elements in a high level of generality to perform the disclosed abstract idea above. Therefore, Claim 1 is directed to the abstract idea.
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2B:
“generating, by a classical computer, the quantum circuit comprising” (mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component - see MPEP 2106.05(f))
"receiving parameters associated with a physical environment” (This step is directed to transmitting or receiving information, which is understood to be insignificant extra solution activity and well understood, routine and conventional activity of transmitting and receiving data as identified by the court - see MPEP 2106.05(d))
“executing, by the quantum computer, the VQE algorithm based on the quantum circuit and the parameters of the physical environment” (mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component - see MPEP 2106.05(f))
“outputting, via the quantum computer, ” (mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component - see MPEP 2106.05(f))
The additional elements as disclosed above alone or in combination do not recite significantly more than the abstract idea itself as they are mere insignificant extra solution activity in combination of generic computer functions being implemented with generic computer elements in a high level of generality to perform the disclosed abstract idea above. Therefore, Claim 1 is subject-matter ineligible.
Regarding Claims 9 and 17:
The claims recite a system that performs the method as described in claim 1. Therefore, claims 9 and 17 are rejected for the same reasons as disclosed for claim 1. The limitations for additional elements of claims 9 and 17 are analyzed below.
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 1:
Please see Step 2A Prong 1 analysis of claim 1
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 2 & 2B:
“A system for executing a variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm on a quantum circuit, the system comprising: a quantum computer comprising a plurality of qubits, and a classical computer comprising at least one processor and at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium, the at least one non-transitory computer- readable medium having computer program instructions configured to control the quantum computer, the instructions causing the system to” (mere instructions to apply the exception using a generic computer component - see MPEP 2106.05(f))
Regarding Claims 2, 10, and 18:
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 1:
“initializing the at least three single qubit gates of the first layer based on random values” (a mental process that can be performed in the human mind with the aid of pen and paper, i.e. judgement)
“initializing the at least three single qubit gates of the second layer with a value zero” (a mental process that can be performed in the human mind with the aid of pen and paper, i.e. judgement)
“initializing the at least three single qubit gates of the third layer based on a negative value of the single qubit gate of the first layer which is on the respective linear string of gates” (a mental process that can be performed in the human mind with the aid of pen and paper, i.e. judgement)
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 2 & 2B: None
Regarding Claims 3 and 11:
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 1:
“” (a mental process that can be performed in the human mind with the aid of pen and paper, i.e. judgement)
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 2 & 2B:
“wherein additional layers are included in between the second layer and the third layer” (merely specifies a particular technological environment in which the abstract idea is to take place, ie. a field of use, and thus does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application nor cannot provide significantly more than the abstract idea itself - see MPEP 2106.05(h))
Regarding Claims 4, 12, and 19:
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 1:
“configuring the subset of qubits to an entangled initial state” (a mental process that can be performed in the human mind with the aid of pen and paper, i.e. judgement)
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 2 & 2B: None
Regarding Claims 5 and 13:
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 1: None
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 2 & 2B:
“wherein the entangled initial state is not a product state” (merely specifies a particular technological environment in which the abstract idea is to take place, ie. a field of use, and thus does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application nor cannot provide significantly more than the abstract idea itself - see MPEP 2106.05(h))
Regarding Claims 6, 14, and 20:
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 1: None
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 2 & 2B:
“wherein a right most single qubit gate of the linear string of gates associated with a third qubit of the subset of qubits is vertically centered with a right most single qubit gate of a second qubit of the subset of qubits” (merely specifies a particular technological environment in which the abstract idea is to take place, ie. a field of use, and thus does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application nor cannot provide significantly more than the abstract idea itself - see MPEP 2106.05(h))
Regarding Claims 7 and 15:
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 1: None
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 2 & 2B:
“wherein a total number of layers is odd” (merely specifies a particular technological environment in which the abstract idea is to take place, ie. a field of use, and thus does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application nor cannot provide significantly more than the abstract idea itself - see MPEP 2106.05(h))
Regarding Claims 8 and 16:
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 1: None
Subject Matter Eligibility Analysis Step 2A Prong 2 & 2B:
“wherein the quantum computer is a noisy intermediate scale quantum computer” (merely specifies a particular technological environment in which the abstract idea is to take place, ie. a field of use, and thus does not integrate the abstract idea into a practical application nor cannot provide significantly more than the abstract idea itself - see MPEP 2106.05(h))
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, 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 1, 6-7, 9, 14-15, 17, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Grant, “An Initialization Strategy For Addressing Barren Plateaus In Parametrized Quantum Circuits” in view of Bar, “An Efficient And Scalable Variational Quantum Circuits Approach For Deep Reinforcement Learning”. Grant is included in the IDS dated 10/17/2023.
Regarding claim 1, Grant teaches:
“A method for executing a variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm using a quantum circuit executed on a quantum computer, the method comprising” (abstract, pg. 3-4, Section 4.1, par. 1-3, pg. 5, Section 4.3, par. 1, A variational quantum eigensolver is trained to find ground state energies using a parametrized quantum circuit. The experiments are conducted on a quantum computer.)
“generating, by a ” ([pg. 3-4, Section 4.1, par. 1-3], The parametrized quantum circuit has ansatz consisting of layers of single qubit rotations and the circuit is executed on a quantum computer. Grant does not explicitly describe a hybrid system consisting of both a classical and a quantum computer.)
“receiving parameters associated with a physical environment” ([pg. 5, Section 4.3, par. 1-2], The experiment is conducted to find ground state energies using a Heisenberg model. The inputs of the strength of the spin-spin interactions and the strength of the magnetic field are used to determine the total energy of the system.)
“executing, by the quantum computer, the VQE algorithm based on the quantum circuit and the parameters of the physical environment” ([pg. 5-6, Section 4.3, par. 1-4], The variational quantum eigensolver is executed based on the quantum circuit consisting of rotation and controlled-Z gates and the input parameters to find ground state energies.)
“outputting, via the quantum computer, an approximation of a base state of the physical environment” ([pg. 5-6, Section 4.3, par. 4, pg. 7, Figure 4(a)], The mean expected energy is output for each training iteration.)
Grant does not explicitly disclose an implementation of “a classical computer”, “a subset of qubits including at least three of the qubits from a plurality of qubits arranged to execute a linear string of gates, wherein the subset of qubits are arranged vertically and execute the linear string of gates in a horizontal direction”, “a first layer comprising a vertically centered arrangement of at least three single qubit gates on each of the linear string of gates for each of the subset of qubits”, “a second layer comprising a sequence of entangling gates followed by a single qubit gate on each linear string of gates where each entangling gate entangles the linear string of gates of the subsequent qubit”, and “a third layer comprising the sequence of the second layer where the third layer does not vertically overlap with the second layer”. However, Bar discloses in the same field of endeavor:
“generating, by a classical computer, the quantum circuit comprising” ([pg. 5, Section 3, par. 1, pg. 6, Figure 2], A learning hybrid classical-quantum system is proposed in Figure 2. The variable parameters of the circuit are optimized with the algorithm running on the classical computer.)
“a subset of qubits including at least three of the qubits from a plurality of qubits arranged to execute a linear string of gates, wherein the subset of qubits are arranged vertically and execute the linear string of gates in a horizontal direction” ([pg. 5-6, Section 3.1, par. 3, pg. 7, Figure 3], In Figure 3, the variational quantum circuit shows at least 3 qubits arranged linearly and corresponding Rx gates to provide rotating the qubit on the x-axis. Additional gates are shown in the horizontal direction of the qubit for further processing.)
“a first layer comprising a vertically centered arrangement of at least three single qubit gates on each of the linear string of gates for each of the subset of qubits” ([pg. 5-6, Section 3.1, par. 3, pg. 7, Figure 3], In Figure 3, the input encoding consists of a series of Rx gates arranged vertically for each of the qubits.)
“a second layer comprising a sequence of entangling gates followed by a single qubit gate on each linear string of gates where each entangling gate entangles the linear string of gates of the subsequent qubit” ([pg. 5-6, Section 3.1, par. 3, pg. 7, Figure 3], In Figure 3, the CNOT gates provide entanglement and Ry and Rz gates follows the CNOT gates. Each CNOT gate entangles a subsequent qubit.)
“a third layer comprising the sequence of the second layer where the third layer does not vertically overlap with the second layer” ([pg. 5-6, Section 3.1, par. 3, pg. 7, Figure 3], In Figure 3, the CNOT, Ry, and Rz gates can be repeated based on the number of layers in the ANN. The repetitive part is repeated along the horizontal direction to apply the gates to the corresponding qubit. The CNOT gates are in a step pattern from one qubit to another.)
It would be obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of “a classical computer”, “a subset of qubits including at least three of the qubits from a plurality of qubits arranged to execute a linear string of gates, wherein the subset of qubits are arranged vertically and execute the linear string of gates in a horizontal direction”, “a first layer comprising a vertically centered arrangement of at least three single qubit gates on each of the linear string of gates for each of the subset of qubits”, “a second layer comprising a sequence of entangling gates followed by a single qubit gate on each linear string of gates where each entangling gate entangles the linear string of gates of the subsequent qubit”, and “a third layer comprising the sequence of the second layer where the third layer does not vertically overlap with the second layer” from Bar into the teaching of Grant. Doing so can improve the performance of variational quantum circuit by implementing amplitude encoding to overcome the limited qubit number barrier (Bar, abstract).
Regarding claims 9 and 17:
Claims 9 and 17 recites a system that performs the same process as described in Claim 1. Therefore claims 9 and 17 is rejected under the same reasons mention for claim 1. The additional elements of claims 9 and 17 is addressed below using Grant in view of Bar:
“A system for executing a variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) algorithm on a quantum circuit, the system comprising:([Grant; abstract, pg. 3-4, Section 4.1, par. 1-3, pg. 5, Section 4.3, par. 1, A variational quantum eigensolver is trained to find ground state energies using a parametrized quantum circuit. The experiments are conducted on a quantum computer.) a quantum computer comprising a plurality of qubits, and a classical computer comprising at least one processor and at least one non-transitory computer-readable medium, the at least one non-transitory computer- readable medium having computer program instructions configured to control the quantum computer, the instructions causing the system to” ([Bar; pg. 5, Section 3, par. 1, pg. 6, Figure 2, pg. 7, Figure 3], A learning hybrid classical-quantum system is proposed in Figure 2. A quantum circuit consisting of a plurality of qubits is shown in Figure 3. It is inherent that the classical computer consists of a processor and memory to perform the operations of the proposed approach.
Regarding claims 6, 14, and 20, Grant in view of Bar discloses:
“wherein a right most single qubit gate of the linear string of gates associated with a third qubit of the subset of qubits is vertically centered with a right most single qubit gate of a second qubit of the subset of qubits” ([Bar, pg. 5-6, Section 3.1, par. 3, pg. 8, Figure 4(d)], A quantum circuit consist of rotation gates in the repetitive part are shown to be vertically aligned between the third and second qubit in Figure 4(d).)
Regarding claims 7 and 15, Grant discloses:
“wherein a total number of layers is odd” ([pg. 5-6, Section 4.3, par. 3], A quantum circuit is initialized with 33 layers per block.)
Claims 4-5, 12-13, and 19 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Grant, “An Initialization Strategy For Addressing Barren Plateaus In Parametrized Quantum Circuits” in view of Bar, “An Efficient And Scalable Variational Quantum Circuits Approach For Deep Reinforcement Learning” and Ragone, “A Unified Theory of Barren Plateaus for Deep Parametrized Quantum Circuits”. Grant is included in the IDS dated 10/17/2023.
Regarding claims 4, 12, and 19:
Grant in view of Bar does not explicitly disclose an implementation of “configuring the subset of qubits to an entangled initial state”. However, Ragone discloses in the same field of endeavor:
“configuring the subset of qubits to an entangled initial state” ([pg. 6, Section IV, par. 2, pg. 5, Figure 2], A quantum circuit can be trained on highly entangled initial states. Analysis is conducted with generalized entanglement in the initial state.)
It would be obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of “configuring the subset of qubits to an entangled initial state” from Ragone into the teaching of Grant in view of Bar. Doing so can improve the performance of variational quantum circuit by leveraging generalized notions of entanglement in parametrized quantum circuits to mitigate barren plateaus (Ragone, abstract).
Regarding claims 5 and 13:
Grant in view of Bar does not explicitly disclose an implementation of “wherein the entangled initial state is not a product state”. However, Ragone discloses in the same field of endeavor:
“wherein the entangled initial state is not a product state” ([pg. 6, Section IV, par. 2, pg. 5, Figure 2], A quantum circuit can be trained on highly entangled initial states. Analysis is conducted with generalized entanglement in the initial state. A highly entangled state is different from a product state.)
It would be obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of “wherein the entangled initial state is not a product state” from Ragone into the teaching of Grant in view of Bar. Doing so can improve the performance of variational quantum circuit by leveraging generalized notions of entanglement in parametrized quantum circuits to mitigate barren plateaus (Ragone, abstract).
Claims 8, and 16 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Grant, “An Initialization Strategy For Addressing Barren Plateaus In Parametrized Quantum Circuits” in view of Bar, “An Efficient And Scalable Variational Quantum Circuits Approach For Deep Reinforcement Learning” and Shehab (US20200372094A1). Grant is included in the IDS dated 10/17/2023.
Regarding claims 8 and 16:
Grant in view of Bar does not explicitly disclose an implementation of “wherein the quantum computer is a noisy intermediate scale quantum computer”. However, Shehab discloses in the same field of endeavor:
“wherein the quantum computer is a noisy intermediate scale quantum computer” ([0005-0006], A NISQ device can be combined with a classical computer in a hybrid quantum-classical computing system.)
It would be obvious to one of the ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to incorporate the teaching of “wherein the quantum computer is a noisy intermediate scale quantum computer” from Shehab into the teaching of Grant in view of Bar. Doing so can improve the efficiency of a system in solving a problem by implementing a hybrid quantum-classical computing system (Shehab, abstract).
Remarks
Claims 2-3, 10-11, and 18 are allowable over prior art. The claims have been searched, but no prior art teaches all of the limitations of dependent claims 2, 10, and 18. The claim limitation of initializing the gates with a value of zero and initializing the gates based on a negative value of the gate in the first layer from claims 2, 10, and 18 are not explicitly disclose in the searched prior arts. Claims 3 and 11 are dependent claims of claims 2, and 10, respectively. Therefore, claims 3 and 11 are allowable over prior art because their parent claims are allowable over prior art.
Conclusion
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/GARY MAC/Examiner, Art Unit 2127
/ABDULLAH AL KAWSAR/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2127
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