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 § 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.
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) [ 1 - 20 ] are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over [ Zobrist et al. (US Pub No. US 20250068952), hereinafter "Zobrist", in view of Inoue et al. (US 12099903), hereinafter "Inoue", in further view of Lee et al. (US Pub No. 20220101172), hereinafter "Lee" ].
As per claim 1, Zobrist significantly teaches a system, comprising: one or more classical computing devices, configured to provide drive control instructions to one or more quantum hardware devices (The system 100 includes quantum hardware 102 in data communication with one or more classical processors 104 . [Zobrist PP 0030])
receive the drive control instructions (the quantum hardware 102 may be configured to receive data specifying physical control qubit parameter values 106 from the classical processors 104 . [Zobrist PP 0034]);
execute the quantum circuit using respective ones of the erasure qubits (Quantum circuits may be constructed and applied to the register of qubits included in the quantum system 110 [Zobrist PP 0032]),
wherein to execute the quantum circuit, the one or more quantum hardware devices are further configured to:
for a given round of syndrome extraction (Quantum error correction (QEC) algorithms that make use of stabilizer measurements (e.g., surface codes) typically involve an array of qubits encoding the quantum information (“data qubits”) interspersed with qubits that periodically and repeatedly perform checks on the encoded information (“measure qubits”). These checks may be performed with multi-qubit gates (e.g., fSim gates) between the data and measure qubits, and culminate in measurement of the measure qubits. At the end of measurement, the state of the measure qubits is effectively random, and must be reinitialized before the next round of checks can be performed. [Zobrist PP 0013]), perform one or more two-qubit gates between respective ones of the erasure qubits (multi-qubit quantum logic gate that performs quantum-computation operations (e.g., CNOT, CZ, SWAP, Toffoli, and the like) [Zobrist PP 0020]);
provide the measurement outcomes of the erasure qubit check protocol to a classical measurement device (Measurement results 108 obtained via measurement devices may be provided to the classical processors 104 for processing and analyzing. [Zobrist PP 0033]); and
provide additional measurement outcomes of the one or more quantum gates performed between the respective ones of the erasure qubits to the classical measurement device (Measurement results 108 obtained via measurement devices may be provided to the classical processors 104 for processing and analyzing. [Zobrist PP 0033]).
Zobrist does not explicitly teach “wherein the drive control instructions comprise instructions for performance of erasure qubit check protocols and conditional erasure qubit reset protocols during execution of a quantum circuit; and one or more quantum hardware devices comprising sets of quantum hardware components configured to respectively implement erasure qubits, perform an erasure qubit check protocol on the respective ones of the erasure qubits; and perform a conditional erasure qubit reset protocol of one or more of the respective ones of the erasure qubits based, at least in part, on measurement outcomes of the erasure qubit check protocol;”
However, Inoue, in an analogous art, teaches wherein the drive control instructions comprise instructions for performance of erasure qubit check protocols and conditional erasure qubit reset protocols during execution of a quantum circuit (a conditional reset … can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. [Inoue PP 0033]);
And perform a conditional erasure qubit reset protocol of one or more of the respective ones of the erasure qubits based, at least in part, on measurement outcomes of the erasure qubit check protocol (Based on the determined actual qubit state, a reset pulse can be conditionally generated to affect the qubit [Inoue PP 0034]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the quantum computing system disclosed by Zobrist to incorporate Inoue’s teachings of conditional qubit reset based on measurement results, in order to improve qubit reset and reinitialization during operation (a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. [Inoue PP 0033]). Applying these teaching would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art.
Zobrist in view of Inoue do not explicitly teach “one or more quantum hardware devices comprising sets of quantum hardware components configured to respectively implement erasure qubits - perform an erasure qubit check protocol on the respective ones of the erasure qubits;”
However, Lee, in an analogous art, teaches one or more quantum hardware devices comprising sets of quantum hardware components configured to respectively implement erasure qubits (The present invention concerns the decoding of a colour code over a quantum erasure channel (QEC), that is the correction of erased qubits. [Lee PP 0069])
perform an erasure qubit check protocol on the respective ones of the erasure qubits (The measurement of Xf over the qubits incident on f (that is associated with the vertices of f) provides a Z-syndrome bit zf indicating the parity of the number of Z-type Pauli errors, namely the number of phase flips affecting these qubits. [Lee PP 0067], The measurement of Zf over the qubits incident on f (that is associated with the vertices of f) provides a X-syndrome bit, xf indicating the parity of the number of X type Pauli errors, namely the number of bit flips affecting these qubits.[Lee PP 0068]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the quantum computing system disclosed by Zobrist in view of Inoue to incorporate lee’s teachings of erased qubits and error correction over a quantum erasure channel, in order to improve error correction and handling qubit of qubit errors (The present invention concerns the decoding of a colour code over a quantum erasure channel (QEC), that is the correction of erased qubits. [Lee PP 0069]). Applying these teaching would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art.
As per claim 2, Zobrist in view of Inoue do not explicitly teach “wherein, to perform the erasure qubit check protocol during the given round of syndrome extraction, the one or more quantum hardware devices are configured to: emit a measurement outcome comprising a heralding signal, for the respective ones of the erasure qubits, when an amplitude damping decay event has occurred on the respective erasure qubit.”
However, Lee, in an analogous art, teaches wherein, to perform the erasure qubit check protocol during the given round of syndrome extraction, the one or more quantum hardware devices are configured to: emit a measurement outcome comprising a heralding signal, for the respective ones of the erasure qubits, when an amplitude damping decay event has occurred on the respective erasure qubit (The present invention concerns the decoding of a colour code over a quantum erasure channel (QEC), that is the correction of erased qubits. Erasures are defined as arbitrary errors at known locations in the lattice. [Lee PP 0069]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the quantum computing system disclosed by Zobrist in view of Inoue to incorporate lee’s teachings of erased qubits and error correction over a quantum erasure channel, in order to improve error correction and handling qubit of qubit errors (The present invention concerns the decoding of a colour code over a quantum erasure channel (QEC), that is the correction of erased qubits. [Lee PP 0069]). Applying these teaching would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art.
As per claim 3, Zobrist does not explicitly teach “wherein, to perform the conditional erasure qubit reset protocol of the one or more of the respective ones of the erasure qubits during the given round of syndrome extraction, the one or more quantum hardware devices are configured to: reset the one or more of the respective ones of the erasure qubits, conditional on the emission of the heralding signal.”
However, Inoue, in an analogous art, teaches wherein, to perform the conditional erasure qubit reset protocol of the one or more of the respective ones of the erasure qubits during the given round of syndrome extraction, the one or more quantum hardware devices are configured to (a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. [Inoue PP 0033]): reset the one or more of the respective ones of the erasure qubits, conditional on the emission of the heralding signal (Based on the determined actual qubit state, a reset pulse can be conditionally generated to affect the qubit [Inoue PP 0034], a pulse (e.g., reset pulse 211 ) that resets the qubit to the ground state of the qubit based on a determination that the qubit is in an excited state [Inoue PP 0110]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the quantum computing system disclosed by Zobrist to incorporate Inoue’s teachings of conditional qubit reset based on measurement results, in order to improve qubit reset and reinitialization during operation (a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. [Inoue PP 0033]). Applying these teaching would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art.
As per claim 4, Zobrist significantly teaches wherein: the drive control instructions further comprise instructions for performance of unconditional erasure qubit reset protocols during the execution of the quantum circuit (Quantum circuits may be constructed and applied to the register of qubits included in the quantum system 110 via multiple control lines that are coupled to one or more control devices 112 . [Zobrist PP 0032]); and
to execute the quantum circuit, the one or more quantum hardware devices are further configured to: for the given round of syndrome extraction (Quantum error correction (QEC) algorithms that make use of stabilizer measurements (e.g., surface codes) typically involve an array of qubits encoding the quantum information (“data qubits”) interspersed with qubits that periodically and repeatedly perform checks on the encoded information [Zobrist PP 0013]), perform an unconditional erasure qubit reset protocol on the respective ones of the erasure qubits (At the end of measurement, the state of the measure qubits is effectively random, and must be reinitialized before the next round of checks can be performed. [Zobrist PP 0013], To reinitialize the measure qubits, a qubit reset operation removes excitations associated with excited states from the measure qubit and restores the qubit to its ground state [Zobrist PP 0014]).
As per claim 5, Zobrist significantly teaches wherein the one or more classical computing devices are further configured to: determine a frequency with which to perform the unconditional erasure qubit reset protocols during the given round of syndrome extraction (Quantum error correction (QEC) algorithms that make use of stabilizer measurements (e.g., surface codes) typically involve an array of qubits encoding the quantum information (“data qubits”) interspersed with qubits that periodically and repeatedly perform checks on the encoded information [Zobrist PP 0013]) and generate the drive control instructions based, at least in part, on the determined frequency of the unconditional erasure qubit reset protocols (the quantum hardware 102 may be configured to receive data specifying physical control qubit parameter values 106 from the classical processors 104 . [Zobrist PP 0034]).
As per claim 6, Zobrist significantly teaches wherein the one or more classical computing devices are further configured to: receive the measurement outcomes of the erasure qubit check protocol (Measurement results 108 obtained via measurement devices may be provided to the classical processors 104 for processing and analyzing. [Zobrist PP 0033]); and
perform an error correction protocol based, at least in part, on the measurement outcomes (Quantum error correction (QEC) algorithms that make use of stabilizer measurements (e.g., surface codes) typically involve an array of qubits encoding the quantum information (“data qubits”) interspersed with qubits that periodically and repeatedly perform checks on the encoded information [Zobrist PP 0013]).
As per claim 7, Zobrist significantly teaches receive the additional measurement outcomes of the one or more quantum gates (Measurement results 108 obtained via measurement devices may be provided to the classical processors 104 for processing and analyzing. [Zobrist PP 0033]);
Zobrist does not explicitly teach “adjust one or more weights corresponding to respective ones of the additional measurement outcomes based, at least in part, on the measurement outcomes of the erasure qubit check protocol; and perform a minimum weight perfect matching (MWPM) error correction protocol additionally based, at least in part, on the additional measurement outcomes of the one or more quantum gates with the adjusted one or more weights.”
However, Inoue, in an analogous art, teaches adjust one or more weights corresponding to respective ones of the additional measurement outcomes based, at least in part, on the measurement outcomes of the erasure qubit check protocol (More recently, a so-called Union-Find decoder using a peeling algorithm for correcting erasures over the quantum erasure channel, has shown its capability to be run (in the worst case) in almost linear time with respect to the number of physical qubits. [Lee PP 0045]); and
perform a minimum weight perfect matching (MWPM) error correction protocol additionally based, at least in part, on the additional measurement outcomes of the one or more quantum gates with the adjusted one or more weights (The thus obtained surface codes can be then decoded according to a so-called Minimum-Weight Perfect Matching (MWPM) algorithm [Lee PP 0045]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the quantum computing system disclosed by Zobrist to incorporate Inoue’s teachings of conditional qubit reset based on measurement results, in order to improve qubit reset and reinitialization during operation (a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. [Inoue PP 0033]). Applying these teaching would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art.
As per claim 8, Zobrist does not explicitly teach “wherein the sets of quantum hardware components are configured to respectively implement dual-rail erasure qubits.”
However, Inoue, in an analogous art, teaches wherein the sets of quantum hardware components are configured to respectively implement dual-rail erasure qubits (The present invention concerns the decoding of a colour code over a quantum erasure channel (QEC), that is the correction of erased qubits. Erasures are defined as arbitrary errors at known locations in the lattice. [Lee PP 0069]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the quantum computing system disclosed by Zobrist to incorporate Inoue’s teachings of conditional qubit reset based on measurement results, in order to improve qubit reset and reinitialization during operation (a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. [Inoue PP 0033]). Applying these teaching would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art.
As per claim 9, Zobrist significantly teaches wherein: the one or more quantum hardware devices further comprise connectivities that couple respective ones of the dual-rail erasure qubits to one another (the multiple qubits 120 can interact with each other through multiple qubit couplers, e.g., qubit coupler 124 . [Zobrist PP 0036], The qubit couplers can define nearest neighbor interactions between the multiple qubits [Zobrist PP 0036]); and
the dual-rail erasure qubits and the connectivities are configured to implement a surface code (Quantum error correction (QEC) algorithms that make use of stabilizer measurements (e.g., surface codes) typically involve an array of qubits encoding the quantum information (“data qubits”) interspersed with qubits that periodically and repeatedly perform checks on the encoded information (“measure qubits”). [Zobrist PP 0013]).
As per claim 10, Zobrist significantly teaches wherein: the one or more quantum hardware devices further comprise connectivities that couple respective ones of the dual-rail erasure qubits to one another (the multiple qubits 120 can interact with each other through multiple qubit couplers, e.g., qubit coupler 124 . [Zobrist PP 0036], The qubit couplers can define nearest neighbor interactions between the multiple qubits [Zobrist PP 0036]); and
the dual-rail erasure qubits and the connectivities are configured to implement a Floquet code (Quantum error correction (QEC) algorithms that make use of stabilizer measurements (e.g., surface codes) typically involve an array of qubits encoding the quantum information (“data qubits”) interspersed with qubits that periodically and repeatedly perform checks on the encoded information (“measure qubits”). [Zobrist PP 0013]).
As per claim 11, Zobrist significantly teaches wherein the sets of quantum hardware components are configured to respectively implement single-transmon-type erasure qubits (the multi-level quantum subsystems can include superconducting qubits, such as flux qubits, charge qubits, transmon qubits, gmon qubits, spin-based qubits, and the like. [Zobrist PP 0030]).
As per claim 12, Zobrist significantly teaches wherein said executing the quantum circuit comprises: for a given round of syndrome extraction (Quantum error correction (QEC) algorithms that make use of stabilizer measurements (e.g., surface codes) typically involve an array of qubits encoding the quantum information (“data qubits”) interspersed with qubits that periodically and repeatedly perform checks on the encoded information (“measure qubits”) [Zobrist PP 0013]), performing one or more two-qubit gates between respective ones of the erasure qubits (multi-qubit quantum logic gate that performs quantum-computation operations (e.g., CNOT, CZ, SWAP, Toffoli, and the like) [Zobrist PP 0020]);
providing measurement outcomes of the erasure qubit check protocol that was performed to a classical measurement device (Measurement results 108 obtained via measurement devices may be provided to the classical processors 104 for processing and analyzing. [Zobrist PP 0033]); and
providing additional measurement outcomes of the one or more two-qubit gates performed between the respective ones of the erasure qubits to the classical measurement device (Measurement results 108 obtained via measurement devices may be provided to the classical processors 104 for processing and analyzing. [Zobrist PP 0033]).
Zobrist does not explicitly teach “executing a quantum circuit using one or more quantum hardware devices that are configured to implement erasure qubits - performing an erasure qubit check protocol on the respective ones of the erasure qubits; and performing a conditional or unconditional erasure qubit reset protocol on one or more of the respective ones of the erasure qubits;”
However, Inoue, in an analogous art, teaches performing a conditional or unconditional erasure qubit reset protocol on one or more of the respective ones of the erasure qubits (a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. [Inoue PP 0033]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the quantum computing system disclosed by Zobrist to incorporate Inoue’s teachings of conditional qubit reset based on measurement results, in order to improve qubit reset and reinitialization during operation (a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. [Inoue PP 0033]). Applying these teaching would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art.
Zobrist in view of Inoue do not explicitly teach “executing a quantum circuit using one or more quantum hardware devices that are configured to implement erasure qubits - performing an erasure qubit check protocol on the respective ones of the erasure qubits;”
However, Lee, in an analogous art, teaches executing a quantum circuit using one or more quantum hardware devices that are configured to implement erasure qubits (The present invention concerns the decoding of a colour code over a quantum erasure channel (QEC), that is the correction of erased qubits. [Lee PP 0069])
performing an erasure qubit check protocol on the respective ones of the erasure qubits (The measurement of Xf over the qubits incident on f (that is associated with the vertices of f) provides a Z-syndrome bit zf indicating the parity of the number of Z-type Pauli errors, namely the number of phase flips affecting these qubits. [Lee PP 0067], The measurement of Zf over the qubits incident on f (that is associated with the vertices of f) provides a X-syndrome bit, xf indicating the parity of the number of X type Pauli errors, namely the number of bit flips affecting these qubits.[Lee PP 0068]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the quantum computing system disclosed by Zobrist in view of Inoue to incorporate lee’s teachings of erased qubits and error correction over a quantum erasure channel, in order to improve error correction and handling qubit of qubit errors (The present invention concerns the decoding of a colour code over a quantum erasure channel (QEC), that is the correction of erased qubits. [Lee PP 0069]). Applying these teaching would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art.
As per claim 13, Zobrist does not explicitly teach “wherein said performing the erasure qubit check protocol for the given round of syndrome extraction comprises: emitting a measurement outcome comprising a heralding signal, for the respective ones of the erasure qubits, when an amplitude damping decay event has occurred on the respective erasure qubit.”
However, Inoue, in an analogous art, teaches wherein said performing the erasure qubit check protocol for the given round of syndrome extraction comprises: emitting a measurement outcome comprising a heralding signal, for the respective ones of the erasure qubits, when an amplitude damping decay event has occurred on the respective erasure qubit (a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. [Inoue PP 0033], one or more peaks 302 of the excited state probability distribution 304 can be classified as ground, such as where the peak 302 can be caused by T1 decay. [Inoue PP 0035]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the quantum computing system disclosed by Zobrist to incorporate Inoue’s teachings of conditional qubit reset based on measurement results, in order to improve qubit reset and reinitialization during operation (a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. [Inoue PP 0033]). Applying these teaching would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art.
As per claim 14, Zobrist does not explicitly teach “wherein said performing the conditional or unconditional erasure qubit reset protocol for the given round of syndrome extraction comprises: performing the conditional erasure qubit reset protocol, wherein said performing the conditional erasure qubit reset protocol comprises: resetting the one or more of the respective ones of the erasure qubits, conditional on the emission of the heralding signal.”
However, Inoue, in an analogous art, teaches wherein said performing the conditional or unconditional erasure qubit reset protocol for the given round of syndrome extraction comprises (a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. [Inoue PP 0033]):
performing the conditional erasure qubit reset protocol, wherein said performing the conditional erasure qubit reset protocol comprises (Based on the determined actual qubit state, a reset pulse can be conditionally generated to affect the qubit [Inoue PP 0034]):
resetting the one or more of the respective ones of the erasure qubits, conditional on the emission of the heralding signal (a pulse (e.g., reset pulse 211 ) that resets the qubit to the ground state of the qubit based on a determination that the qubit is in an excited state [Inoue PP 0110]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the quantum computing system disclosed by Zobrist to incorporate Inoue’s teachings of conditional qubit reset based on measurement results, in order to improve qubit reset and reinitialization during operation (a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. [Inoue PP 0033]). Applying these teaching would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art.
As per claim 15, Zobrist significantly teaches wherein said performing the conditional or unconditional erasure qubit reset protocol for the given round of syndrome extraction comprises (Quantum error correction (QEC) algorithms that make use of stabilizer measurements (e.g., surface codes) typically involve an array of qubits encoding the quantum information (“data qubits”) interspersed with qubits that periodically and repeatedly perform checks on the encoded information [Zobrist PP 0013]):
performing the unconditional erasure qubit reset protocol, wherein said performing the unconditional erasure qubit reset protocol comprises (At the end of measurement, the state of the measure qubits is effectively random, and must be reinitialized before the next round of checks can be performed. [Zobrist PP 0013]):
resetting the respective ones of the erasure qubits (To reinitialize the measure qubits, a qubit reset operation removes excitations associated with excited states from the measure qubit and restores the qubit to its ground state [Zobrist PP 0014]).
As per claim 16, Zobrist significantly teaches one or more non-transitory, computer-readable, media storing program instructions that, when executed on or across one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: generate drive control instructions that are to be provided to one or more quantum hardware devices for execution of a quantum circuit using erasure qubits that have been implemented using the one or more quantum hardware devices (The system 100 includes quantum hardware 102 in data communication with one or more classical processors 104 . [Zobrist PP 0030]), wherein the drive control instructions comprise: for a given round of syndrome extraction (Quantum error correction (QEC) algorithms that make use of stabilizer measurements (e.g., surface codes) typically involve an array of qubits encoding the quantum information (“data qubits”) interspersed with qubits that periodically and repeatedly perform checks on the encoded information (“measure qubits”). These checks may be performed with multi-qubit gates (e.g., fSim gates) between the data and measure qubits, and culminate in measurement of the measure qubits. At the end of measurement, the state of the measure qubits is effectively random, and must be reinitialized before the next round of checks can be performed. [Zobrist PP 0013]), a first set of instructions for performance of one or more two-qubit gates between respective ones of the erasure qubits (multi-qubit quantum logic gate that performs quantum-computation operations (e.g., CNOT, CZ, SWAP, Toffoli, and the like) [Zobrist PP 0020]);
and provide the generated drive control instructions to the one or more quantum hardware devices (the quantum hardware 102 may be configured to receive data specifying physical control qubit parameter values 106 from the classical processors 104 . [Zobrist PP 0034]).
Zobrist does not explicitly teach “a second set of instructions for performance of an erasure qubit check protocol on the respective ones of the erasure qubits; and a third set of instructions for performance of a conditional or unconditional erasure qubit reset protocol of one or more of the respective ones of the erasure qubits;”
However, Inoue, in an analogous art, teaches and a third set of instructions for performance of a conditional or unconditional erasure qubit reset protocol of one or more of the respective ones of the erasure qubits (a conditional reset … can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. [Inoue PP 0033]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the quantum computing system disclosed by Zobrist to incorporate Inoue’s teachings of conditional qubit reset based on measurement results, in order to improve qubit reset and reinitialization during operation (a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. [Inoue PP 0033]). Applying these teaching would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art.
Zobrist in view of Inoue do not explicitly teach “a second set of instructions for performance of an erasure qubit check protocol on the respective ones of the erasure qubits;”
However, Lee, in an analogous art, teaches a second set of instructions for performance of an erasure qubit check protocol on the respective ones of the erasure qubits (The measurement of Xf over the qubits incident on f (that is associated with the vertices of f) provides a Z-syndrome bit zf indicating the parity of the number of Z-type Pauli errors, namely the number of phase flips affecting these qubits. [Lee PP 0067], The measurement of Zf over the qubits incident on f (that is associated with the vertices of f) provides a X-syndrome bit, xf indicating the parity of the number of X type Pauli errors, namely the number of bit flips affecting these qubits. [Lee PP 0068]);
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the quantum computing system disclosed by Zobrist in view of Inoue to incorporate lee’s teachings of erased qubits and error correction over a quantum erasure channel, in order to improve error correction and handling qubit of qubit errors (The present invention concerns the decoding of a colour code over a quantum erasure channel (QEC), that is the correction of erased qubits. [Lee PP 0069]). Applying these teaching would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art.
As per claim 17, Zobrist does not explicitly teach “wherein, to generate the third set of drive control instructions, the program instructions further cause the one or more processors to: generate drive control instructions within the third set of instructions to reset the one or more of the respective ones of the erasure qubits, conditional on emission of a heralding signal that indicates that an amplitude damping decay event has occurred.”
However, Inoue, in an analogous art, teaches wherein, to generate the third set of drive control instructions, the program instructions further cause the one or more processors to (the qubit reset system 202 can comprise the computer-readable memory 204 that can be operably connected to the processor 206 . The memory 204 can store computer-executable instructions that, upon execution by the processor 206 , can cause the processor 206 … to perform one or more actions. [Inoue PP 0067]):
generate drive control instructions within the third set of instructions to reset the one or more of the respective ones of the erasure qubits, conditional on emission of a heralding signal that indicates that an amplitude damping decay event has occurred (Based on the determined actual qubit state, a reset pulse can be conditionally generated to affect the qubit [Inoue PP 0034]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the quantum computing system disclosed by Zobrist to incorporate Inoue’s teachings of conditional qubit reset based on measurement results, in order to improve qubit reset and reinitialization during operation (a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. [Inoue PP 0033]). Applying these teaching would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art.
As per claim 18, Zobrist does not explicitly teach “wherein, to generate the third set of drive control instructions, the program instructions further cause the one or more processors to: generate drive control instructions within the third set of instructions to periodically reset the respective ones of the erasure qubits.”
However, Inoue, in an analogous art, teaches wherein, to generate the third set of drive control instructions, the program instructions further cause the one or more processors (the qubit reset system 202 can comprise the computer-readable memory 204 that can be operably connected to the processor 206 . The memory 204 can store computer-executable instructions that, upon execution by the processor 206 , can cause the processor 206 … to perform one or more actions. [Inoue PP 0067])
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the quantum computing system disclosed by Zobrist to incorporate Inoue’s teachings of conditional qubit reset based on measurement results, in order to improve qubit reset and reinitialization during operation (a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. a conditional reset (also herein referred to as an active reset) can be employed to read out qubit state and a reset pulse can be applied based on the result. [Inoue PP 0033]). Applying these teaching would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art.
Zobrist in view of Inoue do not explicitly teach “generate drive control instructions within the third set of instructions to periodically reset the respective ones of the erasure qubits.”
However, Lee, in an analogous art, teaches generate drive control instructions within the third set of instructions to periodically reset the respective ones of the erasure qubits (Quantum error correction (QEC) algorithms that make use of stabilizer measurements (e.g., surface codes) typically involve an array of qubits encoding the quantum information (“data qubits”) interspersed with qubits that periodically and repeatedly perform checks on the encoded information [Zobrist PP 0013]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the quantum computing system disclosed by Zobrist in view of Inoue to incorporate lee’s teachings of erased qubits and error correction over a quantum erasure channel, in order to improve error correction and handling qubit of qubit errors (The present invention concerns the decoding of a colour code over a quantum erasure channel (QEC), that is the correction of erased qubits. [Lee PP 0069]). Applying these teaching would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art.
As per claim 19, Zobrist significantly teaches wherein the program instructions further cause the one or more processors to: receive measurement outcomes of the erasure qubit check protocol (Measurement results 108 obtained via measurement devices may be provided to the classical processors 104 for processing and analyzing. [Zobrist PP 0033]);
Zobrist in view of Inoue do not explicitly teach “and perform an error correction protocol based, at least in part, on the measurement outcomes.”
However, Lee, in an analogous art, teaches and perform an error correction protocol based, at least in part, on the measurement outcomes (The present invention concerns the decoding of a colour code over a quantum erasure channel (QEC), that is the correction of erased qubits. [Lee PP 0069]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the quantum computing system disclosed by Zobrist in view of Inoue to incorporate lee’s teachings of erased qubits and error correction over a quantum erasure channel, in order to improve error correction and handling qubit of qubit errors (The present invention concerns the decoding of a colour code over a quantum erasure channel (QEC), that is the correction of erased qubits. [Lee PP 0069]). Applying these teaching would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art.
As per claim 20, Zobrist significantly teaches wherein the program instructions further cause the one or more processors to: receive the additional measurement outcomes of the one or more quantum gates (Measurement results 108 obtained via measurement devices may be provided to the classical processors 104 for processing and analyzing. [Zobrist PP 0033]);
Zobrist in view of Inoue do not explicitly teach “adjust one or more weights corresponding to respective ones of the additional measurement outcomes based, at least in part, on the measurement outcomes of the erasure qubit check protocol; and perform a minimum weight perfect matching (MWPM) error correction protocol additionally based, at least in part, on the additional measurement outcomes of the one or more quantum gates with the adjusted one or more weights.”
However, Lee, in an analogous art, teaches adjust one or more weights corresponding to respective ones of the additional measurement outcomes based, at least in part, on the measurement outcomes of the erasure qubit check protocol (More recently, a so-called Union-Find decoder using a peeling algorithm for correcting erasures over the quantum erasure channel, has shown its capability to be run (in the worst case) in almost linear time with respect to the number of physical qubits. [Lee PP 0045]); and
perform a minimum weight perfect matching (MWPM) error correction protocol additionally based, at least in part, on the additional measurement outcomes of the one or more quantum gates with the adjusted one or more weights (The thus obtained surface codes can be then decoded according to a so-called Minimum-Weight Perfect Matching (MWPM) algorithm [Lee PP 0045]).
Therefore, it would have been obvious for one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to have modified the quantum computing system disclosed by Zobrist in view of Inoue to incorporate lee’s teachings of erased qubits and error correction over a quantum erasure channel, in order to improve error correction and handling qubit of qubit errors (The present invention concerns the decoding of a colour code over a quantum erasure channel (QEC), that is the correction of erased qubits. [Lee PP 0069]). Applying these teaching would have been a predictable variation for someone of ordinary skill in the art.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAREEM FUAD ALHWAMDEH whose telephone number is (571)272-5501. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Fri 7:30-5:00.
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, Albert Decady can be reached at (571) 272-3819. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
Information regarding the status of published or unpublished applications may be obtained from Patent Center. Unpublished application information in Patent Center is available to registered users. To file and manage patent submissions in Patent Center, visit: https://patentcenter.uspto.gov. Visit https://www.uspto.gov/patents/apply/patent-center for more information about Patent Center and https://www.uspto.gov/patents/docx for information about filing in DOCX format. For additional questions, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). If you would like assistance from a USPTO Customer Service Representative, call 800-786-9199 (IN USA OR CANADA) or 571-272-1000.
/KAREEM FUAD ALHWAMDEH/Examiner, Art Unit 2112
/ALBERT DECADY/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 2112