Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 18/465,433

TECHNIQUES FOR MITIGATING RADIATION-INDUCED ERRORS IN QUANTUM PROCESSORS

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Sep 12, 2023
Priority
Sep 13, 2022 — provisional 63/406,054
Examiner
PARIHAR, SUCHIN
Art Unit
Tech Center
Assignee
Yale University
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
88%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
0m
Est. Remaining
97%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 88% — above average
88%
Career Allowance Rate
1033 granted / 1177 resolved
+27.8% vs TC avg
Moderate +9% lift
Without
With
+8.9%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Typical timeline
2y 4m
Avg Prosecution
21 currently pending
Career history
1184
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
17.4%
-22.6% vs TC avg
§103
15.5%
-24.5% vs TC avg
§102
56.2%
+16.2% vs TC avg
§112
7.9%
-32.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1177 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
DETAILED ACTION 1. The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . 2. This Non-Final office action is in response to application 18/465,433, application filed on 09/12/2023. Claims 1-25 are currently pending in this application. Information Disclosure Statement 3. The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 07/24/2024 is/are in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner. Claim Objections 4. Claim 17 is/are objected to because of the following informalities: Claim 17 appears to be a duplicate of claim 12. Appropriate correction is required. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 5. The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. (a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. 6. Claim(s) 1-7, 11-15 and 17-22 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) and 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by McDermott et al. (US PG Pub No. 2025/0331430). 7. With respect to independent claims 1 and 11, McDermott teaches: a plurality of qubits (qubit array containing qubits, para 5; at least two qubits, para 21; see superconducting qubits, para 32-33; multi-qubit chip, para 12); a plurality of high kinetic inductance readout resonators (see readout resonators, para 12, 25, 34; see high inductance as part of qubit circuit, para 24; high resistivity foe energy mobility in qubit arrangement, para 37; highly doped electrically conductive material for qubit readout resonator, para 45), wherein each qubit of the plurality of qubits is coupled to one of the plurality of readout resonators (qubits are coupled to local readout resonator, para 12); at least one controller (see controller, controlling the gate potentials, para 33; controlling by applying current/voltage, para 29; controlling interactions between qubits, para 33; qubit control and readout pulses, para 34); and at least one computer readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one controller, perform a method comprising: receiving a readout signal from each of the plurality of readout resonators, thereby receiving a plurality of readout signals (readout signals sent/received, para 34; see plurality of qubits coupled to local readout resonators where the resonators receive signals from the qubits, para 12, 25, 34); and detecting background radiation incident on one or more qubits of the plurality of qubits based on the plurality of readout signals and based on the relative spatial locations of the plurality of qubits (see radiation-induced defects, para 37; see qubits that suffer from correlated errors due to radiation, sand suppressing those errors, Abstract; see qubits that suffer from charge fluctuations related to errors caused by radiation, para 20-25; see readout resonators indicating correlated errors where radiation induces errors, para 12, 25, 34; see spatially localized portions of qubits, para 43-44; see mitigating errors across neighboring qubits, para 5-6; 21-22). 8. With respect to claims 2, 12 and 17, McDermott teaches: wherein detecting background radiation incident on the one or more qubits comprises determining, for each of the plurality of qubits, whether the qubit is in its ground state, in its excited state, or in a third state as a result of the incident background radiation (see qubit array suffers from charge fluctuations or other noise that creates a non-equilibrium error-producing state, para 21). 9. With respect to claims 3 and 18, McDermott teaches: wherein detecting background radiation incident on the one or more qubits comprises determining whether or not the one or more qubits are spatially clustered (see spatially localized portions of qubits, para 43-44; see mitigating errors across neighboring qubits, para 5-6; 21-22; qubits that are neighbors vs qubits that are over long distances). 10. With respect to claims 4, 14 and 19, McDermott teaches: wherein the plurality of readout resonators comprise one or more superconducting cavity resonators (see superconducting qubits and readout resonators, para 11-12, 23-25, 34). 11. With respect to claims 5 and 20, McDermott teaches: wherein the plurality of qubits comprise one or more charge qubits (see qubit array suffers from charge fluctuations or other noise that creates a non-equilibrium error-producing state, para 21; see charge qubits, para 11, 26-27). 12. With respect to claims 6 and 21, McDermott: wherein the plurality of qubits comprise one or more transmon qubits (transmom qubit, para 11-13, 26-28). 13. With respect to claims 7 and 22, McDermott teaches: wherein the instructions are further configured to operate one or more electromagnetic energy sources to direct an electromagnetic signal onto each of the plurality of readout resonators, thereby producing respective readout signals from the plurality of readout resonators as reflected electromagnetic signals (see charge-sensitive qubits coupled to local readout resonators, para 12; readout resonators para 34; see sources of noise and dissipation, para 3, see noise and quasiparticle poisoning, para 22; radiation-induced defects, para 37; see ionizing radiation such as gamma rays, radioactive material, cosmic ray muons, para 35). 14. With respect to claim 13, McDermott teaches: wherein the high kinetic inductance readout resonators comprise titanium nitride and/or granular aluminum (see resonators, superconducting qubits and electrodes, aluminum, para 23). 15. With respect to claim 15, McDermott teaches: wherein the one or more high kinetic inductance superconducting cavity resonators are formed from titanium nitride and/or granular aluminum (see resonators, superconducting qubits and electrodes, aluminum, para 23). Allowable Subject Matter 16. Claims 8-10, 16 and 23-25 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. 17. With respect to claim 8 (and claims 9-10 which depend therefrom) and similarly recited claim 23 (and claims 24-25 which depend therefrom), the prior art made of record fails to teach the combination of steps recited in dependent claims 8 and 23, including the following particular combination of steps as recited in claim 8 and similarly recited in claim 23, as follows: wherein detecting the background radiation incident on the one or more qubits of the plurality of qubits comprises determining a reflection coefficient of each of the plurality of readout signals. 18. With respect to claim 16, the prior art made of record fails to teach the combination of steps recited in independent claim 16, including the following particular combination of steps as recited in claim 16, as follows: wherein the one or more high kinetic inductance superconducting cavity resonators are formed from a material with a kinetic inductance fraction equal to or greater than 3% and less than or equal to 10% when measured below 0.5 Tc, where Tc is the superconducting transition temperature of the one or more high kinetic inductance superconducting cavity resonators. Conclusion Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SUCHIN PARIHAR whose telephone number is (703)756-1970. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F 8am-5pm. Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Jack Chiang can be reached on 571-272-7483. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://pair-direct.uspto.gov. Should you have questions on access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative or access to the automated information system, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000. /SUCHIN PARIHAR/ Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2851
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Sep 12, 2023
Application Filed
Sep 01, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
88%
Grant Probability
97%
With Interview (+8.9%)
2y 4m (~0m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1177 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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