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 .
Claims 1-21 are pending.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 10/30/2024 is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statement is being considered by the examiner.
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.
Claims 1-21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by Babbush et al. (Babbush), US Patent No. 12,346,770 B2.
As to independent claim 1, Babbush discloses a method for preparing an eigenstate of a target Hamiltonian using a quantum computer (Abstract: a method includes the actions of defining a target quantum state of a quantum system, wherein time evolution of the quantum system is governed by a target Hamiltonian), the method comprising:
(a) obtaining a reflection path between an initial Hamiltonian and a target Hamiltonian (Abstract: defining a total Hamiltonian that interpolates between an initial Hamiltonian and the target Hamiltonian);
(b) using one or more target eigenstates to obtain a sequence of reflections along said reflection path (col. 3, line 57 – col. 4, line 3: technique for preparing or solving for a target quantum state of a given quantum system include a diabatic quantum state preparation, which is a method for determining a target ground state of a quantum system using the adiabatic theorem. To ensure that the quantum system evolves to the target ground state, the quantum system must evolve for a period of time that depends on a minimum energy difference between two lowest eigenstates of the interpolating Hamiltonian); and
(c) using said quantum computer to perform said sequence of reflections along said reflection path (col. 3, line 57 – col. 4, line 3 and col. 5, line 37 – col. 6, line 8: the quantum hardware includes one or more control devices that operate the quantum system, the quantum hardware may be configured to perform quantum measurements on the quantum system).
As to dependent claim 2, Babbush discloses wherein, subsequent to (c), the method comprises, at said quantum computer, performing a measurement in the eigenbasis of said target Hamiltonian, and, wherein said measurement in said eigenbasis of said target Hamiltonian is performed to check that said one or more target eigenstates are achieved (col. 5, lines 45-53 and col. 6, lines 19-43).
As to dependent claim 3, Babbush discloses wherein the method further comprises obtaining an indication of a superposition of said one or more target eigenstates (col. 10, lines 29-43).
As to dependent claim 4, Babbush discloses wherein an indication of said one or more target eigenstates comprises at least one of: energy intervals, an integer number representative of a number of eigenstates having the lowest energies, an integer number representative of a number of eigenstates having the highest energies, labels, and a binary function that marks the target eigenstates (col. 3, line 57 – col. 4, line 3).
As to dependent claim 5, Babbush discloses wherein (c) comprises, at said quantum computer, performing said sequence of reflections using a plurality of gate operations (col. 1, lines 21-27).
As to dependent claim 6, Babbush discloses wherein said plurality of gate operations comprises phase kickback or energy comparison (col. 3, line 57 – col. 4, line 3).
As to dependent claim 7, Babbush discloses wherein (c) comprises, at said quantum computer, performing a quantum phase estimation without performing an energy measurement (col. 5, lines 45-53).
As to dependent claim 8, Babbush discloses wherein (c) comprises performing at least one of qubitization, quantum signal processing, and partial energy measurement (col. 5, lines 18-37).
As to dependent claim 9, Babbush discloses wherein said measurement comprises a quantum measurement comprising at least one of: qubitization, quantum signal processing, or partial energy measurement (col. 5, lines 45-53).
As to dependent claim 10, Babbush discloses wherein said quantum computer comprises at least one member of the group consisting of: a circuit-based quantum computer, a superconducting quantum computer, a trapped ion quantum computer, a quantum dot computer, an optical quantum computers, a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) quantum computer, a solid-state NMR Kane quantum computer, an electrons-on-helium quantum computer, a cavity quantum electrodynamics-based quantum computer, a molecular magnet-based quantum computer, a fullerene-based ESR quantum computer, a diamond-based quantum computer, a Bose-Einstein condensate-based quantum computer, a transistor-based quantum computer; a rare-earth-metal-ion-doped inorganic crystal-based quantum computer, and a metal-like carbon nanospheres based quantum computer (col. 5, lines 18-37).
As to dependent claim 11, Babbush discloses wherein (a) - (c) are repeated at least once (col. 7, lines 29-39).
As to dependent claim 12, Babbush discloses wherein (a) - (c) and said performing said measurement in the eigenbasis of said target Hamiltonian are repeated at least once (col. 7, lines 29-39).
As to dependent claim 13, Babbush discloses wherein (a) - (c) and said obtaining of an indication of superposition of said one or more target eigenstates are repeated at least once (col. 7, lines 29-39).
As to dependent claim 14, Babbush discloses wherein (b) comprises using an optimization protocol to obtain said sequence of reflections, wherein said optimization protocol is based at least in part on one or more methods selected from the group consisting of: a gradient-based optimization procedure, a derivative free optimization procedure, a gradient descent, a stochastic gradient descent, a steepest descent, a Bayesian optimization, a random search, and a local search (col. 5, lines 6-13 and col. 7, lines 29-52).
As to dependent claim 15, Babbush discloses wherein (b) comprises using machine learning method to obtain said sequence of reflections (col. 3, lines 35-50).
As to dependent claim 16, Babbush discloses wherein (a) or (b) or both comprise using prior information to obtain said sequence of reflections, said reflection path, or both (col. 5, lines 54-62).
As to dependent claim 17, Babbush discloses wherein (a) comprises using an adiabatic path to obtain said reflection path (col. 3, line 57 – col. 4, line 3).
As to dependent claim 18, Babbush discloses wherein said target Hamiltonian is representative of at least one member of the group consisting of: an optimization problem, a kSAT problem, a spin-glass problem, a quadratic unconstrained binary optimization problem, an optimization problem with at least one constraint, a quantum many-body system, a fermionic system, and a bosonic system (col. 5, lines 6-13 and col. 7, lines 29-52).
As to dependent claim 19, Babbush discloses wherein said eigenstate of said initial Hamiltonian is a ground state of said initial Hamiltonian, and wherein said ground state defines a region representative of said at least one constraint of said optimization problem (col. 6, lines 1-17).
As to dependent claim 20, Babbush discloses wherein an indication of said initial Hamiltonian comprises a domain of an optimization problem (col. 5, lines 6-13 and col. 6, lines 9-17).
As to independent claim 21, Babbush discloses a system for eigenstate preparation of a target Hamiltonian on a quantum computer, the system comprising:
a communications interface for providing instructions to said quantum computer, and for obtaining quantum measurements results (col. 4, lines 50-52: the system includes quantum hardware 102 in data communication with a classical processor 104, wherein the system may receive as input data that may include data specifying a target quantum state of a quantum system, e.g., input data 106, and the system may generate as output data representing an approximation of the target quantum state or data representing a measured property of the target quantum stat, e.g., output data 108); and
a digital computer comprising an interface and a non-transitory computer readable medium operatively coupled to a processor, said non-transitory computer readable medium comprising instructions (col. 5, line 45 – col. 6, line 8: the quantum hardware may be configured to perform quantum measurements on the quantum system and send measurement results to the classical processors 104, which include components for performing classical computations), wherein said processor is configured to execute said instructions to at least:
(a) obtain a reflection path between an initial Hamiltonian and a target Hamiltonian (Abstract: defining a total Hamiltonian that interpolates between an initial Hamiltonian and the target Hamiltonian);
(b) use one or more eigenstates to obtain a sequence of reflections along said reflection path (col. 3, line 57 – col. 4, line 3: technique for preparing or solving for a target quantum state of a given quantum system include a diabatic quantum state preparation, which is a method for determining a target ground state of a quantum system using the adiabatic theorem. To ensure that the quantum system evolves to the target ground state, the quantum system must evolve for a period of time that depends on a minimum energy difference between two lowest eigenstates of the interpolating Hamiltonian); and
(c) provide instructions, using said communications interface, to said quantum computer to perform a sequence of reflections along said reflection path (col. 3, line 57 – col. 4, line 3, col. 5, line 37 – col. 6, line 8 and col. 10, lines 29-43) the quantum hardware includes one or more control devices that operate the quantum system, the quantum hardware may be configured to perform quantum measurements on the quantum system).
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication should be directed to CHAU T NGUYEN at telephone number (571)272-4092. The examiner can normally be reached on M-F from 8am to 5pm (PT).
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Cesar Paula, can be reached at telephone number 5712724128. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/CHAU T NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2145
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