DETAILED ACTION
This Office Action is sent in response to Applicant’s Communication received 3/12/2026 for application number 18/478,794.
Claims 1-20 are pending.
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 § 102
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 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)(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.
Claim(s) 1 and 5-6 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Simmons et al. (US 2026/0099749 A1).
In reference to claim 1, Simmons discloses a modular quantum computing system, comprising: a quantum entanglement network subsystem configured to remotely connect separate quantum processing units (QPUs) using optical communications links (controller connects quantum systems via optical paths, para. 0159-74, 0189-98); a first QPU comprising: a first set of physical qubits, designated for quantum computation operations; and a second set of physical qubits, designated for quantum entanglement operations; and a second QPU comprising: a third set of physical qubits, designated for quantum computation operations; and a fourth set of physical qubits, designated for quantum entanglement operations (first and second quantum systems have at least two qubits, para. 0173, 0180, including qubits for entanglement, para. 0167-84 and calculations, para. 0151-57), wherein, to execute a given multi-qubit gate of a given quantum circuit between a respective one of the first set of physical qubits and a respective one of the third set of physical qubits, the quantum entanglement network subsystem is further configured to teleport a quantum state of a respective one of the second set of physical qubits to a respective one of the fourth set of physical qubits (state of two qubits can be transferred from one system to another for executing a two-qubit gate, para. 0179-84).
In reference to claim 5, Simmons discloses the modular quantum computing system of claim 1, wherein to execute the given multi-qubit gate of the given quantum circuit between the respective one of the first set of physical qubits and the respective one of the third set of physical qubits, the first QPU is further configured to: execute one or more SWAP gate operations between the respective one of the first set of physical qubits, one or more other physical qubits of the first set of physical qubits, and the respective one of the second set of physical qubits (SWAP gates can be applied to different qubits, para. 0151-57, 0179-81).
In reference to claim 6, Simmons discloses the modular quantum computing system of claim 1, wherein the first QPU is further configured to execute one or more additional gates of the given quantum circuit between respective other ones of the first set of physical qubits (other gates can be executed, para. 0151-57).
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.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 2-4, 7, 10-19 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Simmons et al. (US 2026/0099749 A1) in view of Cicconetti et al., Request Scheduling in Quantum Networks (NPL [U], see Notice of References Cited).
In reference to claim 2, Simmons teaches the modular quantum computing system of claim 1, wherein: the quantum entanglement network subsystem comprises: … ; and the quantum entanglement network subsystem is further configured to: establish one or more pairwise quantum entanglement instances, using one or more of the optical communications links, … (chains of pairs of systems are entangled over optical links, para. 0176-80).
However, Simmons does not explicitly teach a first quantum repeater, locally connected to the first QPU, wherein the first quantum repeater comprises a first set of quantum memories; and a second quantum repeater, locally connected to the second QPU, wherein the second quantum repeater comprises a second set of quantum memories; and the quantum entanglement network subsystem is further configured to: establish one or more pairwise quantum entanglement instances, using one or more of the optical communications links, with respective ones of the first set of quantum memories of the first quantum repeater and respective other ones of the second set of quantum memories of the second quantum repeater.
Cicconetti teaches a first quantum repeater, locally connected to the first QPU, wherein the first quantum repeater comprises a first set of quantum memories (quantum repeaters, A. Quantum Network Architecture, page 3, comprise quantum memories, B. Framing Structure, page 4); and a second quantum repeater, locally connected to the second QPU, wherein the second quantum repeater comprises a second set of quantum memories (connection can have multiple repeaters, A. Quantum Network Architecture, page 3); and the quantum entanglement network subsystem is further configured to: establish one or more pairwise quantum entanglement instances, using one or more of the optical communications links, with respective ones of the first set of quantum memories of the first quantum repeater and respective other ones of the second set of quantum memories of the second quantum repeater (entanglement instances established between first and second repeaters, see pages 3-5).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art, having the teachings of Simmons and Cicconetti before the earliest effective filing date, to modify the network of Simmons to include the repeaters of Cicconetti.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to modify the network of Simmons to include the repeaters of Cicconetti the repeaters can allow entanglement beyond the maximum distance of other technologies (Cicconetti, Quantum Network Architecture, page 3).
In reference to claim 3, Simmons teaches the modular quantum computing system of claim 2, wherein: the [node] further comprises a first optical switchboard; to teleport the quantum state of the respective one of the second set of physical qubits to the respective one of the fourth set of physical qubits, the first optical switchboard is configured to perform a Bell state measurement between the respective one of the second set of physical qubits … (optical switch connects to bell state analyzer, para. 0404, 0174); the second [node] further comprises a second optical switchboard; and to teleport the quantum state, the second optical switchboard is configured to perform a Bell state measurement between the respective one of the fourth set of physical qubits … (system can have multiple intermediate nodes, para. 0176-80).
However, Simmons does not explicitly teach the first quantum repeater … and a given quantum memory of the first set of quantum memories … second quantum repeater … and another given quantum memory of the second set of quantum memories.
Cicconetti teaches the first quantum repeater … and a given quantum memory of the first set of quantum memories … second quantum repeater … and another given quantum memory of the second set of quantum memories (quantum repeaters, A. Quantum Network Architecture, page 3, comprise quantum memories, B. Framing Structure, page 4).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art, having the teachings of Simmons and Cicconetti before the earliest effective filing date, to modify the network of Simmons to include the repeaters of Cicconetti.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to modify the network of Simmons to include the repeaters of Cicconetti the repeaters can allow entanglement beyond the maximum distance of other technologies (Cicconetti, Quantum Network Architecture, page 3).
In reference to claim 4, Simmons teaches the modular quantum computing system of claim 3, wherein: the first quantum repeater further comprises an optical transducer configured to enable the first optical switchboard to interface with signals obtained from the second set of physical qubits in the first QPU (para. 0174).
In reference to claim 7, Simmons teaches a system, comprising: one or more classical computing devices of a service provider network configured to implement an elastic quantum computing service configured to orchestrate execution of quantum circuits using a plurality of quantum processing units (QPUs) made accessible via the service provider network (entanglement scheduler comprises classical computer, para. 0214, and the scheduler determines how to implement a quantum circuit, para. 0305-13), wherein, to implement the elastic quantum computing service, the one or more classical computing devices are further configured to: allocate a number of QPUs, of the plurality of QPUs, to be used in executing a given quantum circuit; and determine gate scheduling instructions to be applied during execution of the given quantum circuit across the allocated number of QPUs (scheduler can determines how to execute circuit across different quantum systems, 0218-24), wherein, to determine the gate scheduling instructions, the one or more classical computing devices are further configured to schedule a multi-qubit gate to be executed using a physical qubit of a first QPU and a physical qubit of a second QPU of the allocated number of QPUs (multi-qubit gate can be scheduled, para. 0151-57); and a quantum entanglement network comprising a plurality of [nodes] connected to respective ones of the plurality of QPUs, wherein to execute the multi-qubit gate using the physical qubit of the first QPU and the physical qubit of the second QPU, the quantum entanglement network is configured to cause quantum entanglement to be generated between a first [node] of the plurality of [nodes], locally connected to the first QPU, and a second quantum [node] of the plurality of quantum [nodes], locally connected to the second QPU (chains of intermediate nodes connected to the two endpoint quantum systems are entangled over optical links and can transfer state of qubits, para. 0176-84)
However, Simmons does not explicitly teach a plurality of quantum repeaters locally connected to respective ones of the plurality of QPUs.
Cicconetti teaches a plurality of quantum repeaters locally connected to respective ones of the plurality of QPUs (entanglement instances between endpoints established between multiple repeaters, see pages 3-5).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art, having the teachings of Simmons and Cicconetti before the earliest effective filing date, to modify the network of Simmons to include the repeaters of Cicconetti.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to modify the network of Simmons to include the repeaters of Cicconetti the repeaters can allow entanglement beyond the maximum distance of other technologies (Cicconetti, Quantum Network Architecture, page 3).
In reference to claim 10, Simmons teaches the system of claim 7, wherein the one or more classical computing devices implementing the elastic quantum computing service are further configured to: generate quantum entanglement instructions to be provided to the quantum entanglement network prior to the execution of the given quantum circuit across the allocated number of QPUs, wherein the quantum entanglement instructions indicate one or more pairwise quantum entanglement instances that are to be established between respective ones of the plurality of quantum repeaters based, at least in part, on the determined gate scheduling instructions (the scheduler creates instructions that map the virtual qubits and entablements to the physical qubits in the network, para. 0305-13).
In reference to claim 11, Simmons and Cicconetti teach the system of claim 10, wherein the quantum entanglement network is configured to establish the one or more pairwise quantum entanglement instances between the respective ones of the plurality of quantum repeaters based, at least in part, on the provided quantum entanglement instructions (Simmons teaches the scheduler sets up chains of intermediate nodes connected to the two endpoint quantum systems are entangled over optical links and can transfer state of qubits, para. 0176-84; Cicconetti teaches the repeater, see rejection of claim 7 above).
In reference to claim 12, Simmons teaches the system of claim 11, wherein: the quantum entanglement network is further configured to maintain a buffer of the established one or more pairwise quantum entanglement instances such that a rate of establishing the one or more pairwise quantum entanglement instances is higher than a rate of decay of the one or more pairwise quantum entanglement instances ; and the rate of decay of the one or more pairwise quantum entanglement instances is based, at least in part, on coherence times of qubits within respective quantum memory locations of the respective ones of the plurality of quantum repeaters (decoherence time is used to schedule entanglements, para. 0189-213).
In reference to claim 13, Simmons teaches the system of claim 7, wherein: to determine the gate scheduling instructions of the given quantum circuit across the allocated number of QPUs, the one or more classical computing devices are further configured to schedule a subsequent multi-qubit gate to be executed using an additional physical qubit of the first QPU and a physical qubit of a third QPU of the allocated number of QPUs; and the subsequent multi-qubit gate is dependent upon, at least in part, an output of the multi-qubit gate to be executed using the physical qubit of the first QPU and the physical qubit of the second QPU (scheduling of entanglement can be between qubits of different quantum systems, para. 0179-80, and scheduling can be based on dependence of another qubit result, para. 0185-0212, 0224-28).
In reference to claim 14, Simmons teaches the system of claim 7, wherein: … to execute the multi-qubit gate using the physical qubit of the first QPU and the physical qubit of the second QPU … (entanglement can be between qubits of different quantum systems that are connected by intermediate nodes, para. 0179-80).
However, Simmons does not explicitly teach the system further comprises a third quantum repeater, configured to establish one or more pairwise quantum entanglement instances with the first quantum repeater, and one or more additional pairwise quantum entanglement instances with the second quantum repeater … the quantum entanglement network is configured to cause distributed quantum entanglement to be generated between the first quantum repeater and the third quantum repeater, and between the third second quantum repeater and the second quantum repeater.
Cicconetti teaches the system further comprises a third quantum repeater, configured to establish one or more pairwise quantum entanglement instances with the first quantum repeater, and one or more additional pairwise quantum entanglement instances with the second quantum repeater … the quantum entanglement network is configured to cause distributed quantum entanglement to be generated between the first quantum repeater and the third quantum repeater, and between the third second quantum repeater and the second quantum repeater (entanglement instances between endpoints established between multiple repeaters, see pages 3-5).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art, having the teachings of Simmons and Cicconetti before the earliest effective filing date, to modify the network of Simmons to include the repeaters of Cicconetti.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to modify the network of Simmons to include the repeaters of Cicconetti the repeaters can allow entanglement beyond the maximum distance of other technologies (Cicconetti, Quantum Network Architecture, page 3).
In reference to claim 15, Simmons teaches the system of claim 7, wherein: the first QPU is located at a premises within the service provider network; the first [node] comprises: … an optical switchboard … ; and to execute the multi-qubit gate using the physical qubit of the first QPU and the physical qubit of the second QPU, the optical switchboard is configured to perform a Bell state measurement between a given [node] and another physical qubit of the first QPU, designated for quantum entanglement operations (optical switch connects to bell state analyzer for entanglement operations, para. 0404, 0174)
Cicconetti teaches the first quantum repeater comprises: a set of quantum memories … perform a Bell state measurement between a given quantum memory of the set of quantum memories (quantum repeaters, A. Quantum Network Architecture, page 3, comprise quantum memories, B. Framing Structure, page 4, and perform Bell measurements on quantum memory to perform entanglement, second column, page 10).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art, having the teachings of Simmons and Cicconetti before the earliest effective filing date, to modify the network of Simmons to include the repeaters of Cicconetti.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to modify the network of Simmons to include the repeaters of Cicconetti the repeaters can allow entanglement beyond the maximum distance of other technologies (Cicconetti, Quantum Network Architecture, page 3).
In reference to claim 16, Simmons teaches the system of claim 15, wherein: the second QPU is located at the premises within the service provider network; the second quantum repeater comprises: another set of quantum memories; and another optical switchboard; and to execute the multi-qubit gate using the physical qubit of the first QPU and the physical qubit of the second QPU, the other optical switchboard is configured to perform another Bell state measurement between another given quantum memory of the other set of quantum memories and another physical qubit of the second QPU, designated for quantum entanglement operations, wherein the other given quantum memory of the other set of quantum memories within the second QPU corresponds to an established, pairwise quantum entanglement instance with the given quantum memory of the set of quantum memories within the first QPU (entanglement instances between endpoints can be established between multiple repeaters, see pages 3-5).
In reference to claim 17, Simmons teaches a method, comprising: receiving a request from a customer of an elastic quantum computing service to execute a quantum circuit using quantum computing resources of the elastic quantum computing service (scheduler determines how to implement a requested quantum informatics program quantum circuit, para. 0305-13, 0186-88); allocating a number of quantum processing units (QPUs), of a plurality of QPUs made available by the elastic quantum computing service, for use in executing the quantum circuit, wherein the allocated QPUs are remotely connected using [nodes] of a quantum entanglement network (scheduler can determines how to execute circuit across different quantum systems, 0218-24); executing the quantum circuit using the allocated QPUs, wherein said executing the quantum circuit comprises: executing a given multi-qubit gate of the quantum circuit (multi-qubit gate can be scheduled, para. 0151-57) between a physical qubit of a first QPU of the allocated QPUs and a physical qubit of a second QPU of the allocated QPUs (entanglement can be between qubits of different quantum systems that are connected by intermediate nodes, para. 0179-80), wherein said executing the given multi-qubit gate comprises teleporting a quantum state, pertaining to the given multi-qubit gate, between another physical qubit of the first QPU, designated for quantum entanglement operations, and another physical qubit of the second QPU, designated for quantum entanglement operations; and providing execution results of the quantum circuit to the customer (state of two qubits is teleported from one endpoint to another for executing a two-qubit gate, para. 0179-84)
However, Simmons does not explicitly teach quantum repeaters.
Cicconetti teaches quantum repeaters (quantum repeaters, A. Quantum Network Architecture, page 3).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art, having the teachings of Simmons and Cicconetti before the earliest effective filing date, to modify the network of Simmons to include the repeaters of Cicconetti.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to modify the network of Simmons to include the repeaters of Cicconetti the repeaters can allow entanglement beyond the maximum distance of other technologies (Cicconetti, Quantum Network Architecture, page 3).
In reference to claim 18, Simmons teaches the method of claim 17, wherein said executing the given multi-qubit gate of the quantum circuit between the physical qubit of the first QPU and the physical qubit of the second QPU further comprises: executing, prior to said teleporting the quantum state, one or more SWAP gate operations between the physical qubit of the first QPU and the other physical qubit of the first QPU, designated for quantum entanglement operations (SWAP gates can be applied to different qubits, para. 0151-57, 0179-81).
In reference to claim 19, Simmons teaches the method of claim 17, wherein said executing the quantum circuit using the allocated QPUs further comprises: responsive to said executing the given multi-qubit gate of the quantum circuit between the physical qubit of the first QPU and the physical qubit of the second QPU, executing one or more subsequent multi-qubit gates of the quantum circuit using one or more of the allocated QPUs, wherein the one or more subsequent multi-qubit gates are dependent upon, at least in part, an output of the multi-qubit gate executed between the physical qubit of the first QPU and the physical qubit of the second QPU (scheduling of entanglement can be between qubits of different quantum systems, para. 0179-80, and scheduling can be based on dependence of another qubit result, para. 0185-0212, 0224-28).
Claim(s) 8-9 and 20 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Simmons et al. (US 2026/0099749 A1) in view of Cicconetti et al., Request Scheduling in Quantum Networks (NPL [U], see Notice of References Cited) and Gonciulea et al. (US 2022/0309374 A1).
In reference to claim 8, Simmons teaches the system of claim 7, wherein to allocate the number of QPUs to be used in executing the given quantum circuit, the one or more classical computing devices implementing the elastic quantum computing service are further configured to: determine a … number of physical qubits that are to be used to execute the given quantum circuit based, at least in part, on a given compiled version of the given quantum circuit (quantum compiler processes program to virtual qubits, para. 0188, 0305-08, and then scheduler optimizes mapping of virtual qubits to physical cubits, para. 0308-20); determine one or more combinations of QPUs of the plurality of QPUs that result in at least the … number of physical qubits; and allocate the number of QPUs to be used in executing the given quantum circuit based, at least in part, on the one or more combinations of QPUs (scheduler can determine what quantum systems should execute which parts of the quantum circuits based on the availability and combination attributes of the quantum systems para. 0321-40).
However, Simmons and Cicconetti do not explicitly teach determine a minimum number of physical qubits.
Gonciulea teaches determine a minimum number of physical qubits (quantum compilation can try and minimize numbers of physical qubits in order to reduce the cost of the computation, para. 0040-45).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art, having the teachings of Simmons, Cicconetti, and Gonciulea before the earliest effective filing date, to modify the compilation of Simmons to include the minimum number of qubits of Gonciulea.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to modify the compilation of Simmons to include the minimum number of qubits of Gonciulea because it can help minimize costs of a quantum calculation (Gonciulea, para. 0045).
In reference to claim 9, Gonciulea teaches the system of claim 8, wherein to determine the one or more combinations of QPUs of the plurality of QPUs that result in at least the minimum number of physical qubits, the one or more classical computing devices implementing the elastic quantum computing service are further configured to: determine QPUs of the plurality of QPUs that are currently allocated, or are scheduled to be allocated, for use in executing other quantum circuits; and determine the one or more combinations of QPUs of the plurality of QPUs that result in at least the minimum number of physical qubits based, at least in part, on the determination of the QPUs of the plurality of QPUs that are currently allocated, or are scheduled to be allocated, for use in executing the other quantum circuits (minimizing qubits is based on available resources and scheduled allocations, i.e. “suffix” qubits which are future output qubits that are needed in another calculation, para. 0038-57).
In reference to claim 20, Simmons teaches the method of claim 17, wherein said allocating the number of QPUs for use in executing the quantum circuit comprises: determining a … number of physical qubits that are to be used to execute the quantum circuit based, at least in part, on a given compiled version of the quantum circuit (quantum compiler processes program to virtual qubits, para. 0188, 0305-08, and then scheduler optimizes mapping of virtual qubits to physical cubits, para. 0308-20); determining one or more combinations of QPUs of the plurality of QPUs that result in at least the minimum number of physical qubits; and allocating the number of QPUs based, at least in part, on the one or more combinations of QPUs (scheduler can determine what quantum systems should execute which parts of the quantum circuits based on the availability and combination attributes of the quantum systems para. 0321-40).
However, Simmons and Cicconetti do not explicitly teach determine a minimum number of physical qubits.
Gonciulea teaches determine a minimum number of physical qubits (quantum compilation can try and minimize numbers of physical qubits in order to reduce the cost of the computation, para. 0040-45).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in art, having the teachings of Simmons, Cicconetti, and Gonciulea before the earliest effective filing date, to modify the compilation of Simmons to include the minimum number of qubits of Gonciulea.
One of ordinary skill in the art would have been motivated to modify the compilation of Simmons to include the minimum number of qubits of Gonciulea because it can help minimize costs of a quantum calculation (Gonciulea, para. 0045).
Conclusion
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/ANDREW T CHIUSANO/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2144
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