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Google patents faster error checking for quantum computers

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

This patent describes a method for a regular computer to fix errors in quantum computing data faster by splitting the work among multiple processing threads. It uses a shared data structure to track groups of error signals, allowing the threads to update the information simultaneously without conflicting with each other.

Why it mattersIt improves the speed of the software needed to make quantum computers reliable, which is a key step in making the technology usable.

In the filing’s own words

Methods, systems, and apparatus for parallel decoding for quantum error correction codes. In one aspect, a classical computer system is configured to implement a decoding process on measurement data received from a quantum computing system to determine errors in a quantum computation. The classical computing system implements a main thread, multiple worker threads, and a data structure common to each worker thread. The data structure stores data of a dynamic system of disjoint clusters of nodes of a detector graph for the decoding process, where the data includes compressed logical flip information of child nodes in each cluster of nodes. During execution of the decoding process, the multiple worker threads are configured to, in parallel: obtain clusters of nodes and modify the clusters of nodes, where, for each modification, the worker thread updates data in the data structure that corresponds to the cluster under an atomicity primitive.

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A system comprising: a classical computer system configured to implement a worker thread of a decoding process on measurement data received from a quantum computing system to determine errors in a quantum computation implemented by the quantum computing system, wherein the worker thread is one of a plurality of worker threads; a data structure on the classical computer system, wherein each other worker thread also has a data structure common to the data structure on the classical computer system, wherein the data structure stores data of a dynamic system of disjoint clusters of nodes of a detector graph for the decoding process, wherein: each cluster of nodes comprises a root node that has no ascendant node and one or more descending child nodes, wherein the child nodes include leaf nodes with no descending nodes or one or more descending child nodes; and the data comprises compressed logical flip information of child nodes in each cluster of nodes; wherein during execution of the decoding process, the worker thread is configured to, in parallel with each of the other worker threads: obtain, from a main thread running on a data processing apparatus, one or more clusters of nodes in the detector graph, wherein each cluster of nodes comprises one or more detection events in the measurement data; and execute the decoding process to modify the one or more clusters of nodes, wherein, for each modification of a cluster, the worker thread updates data in the data structure that corresponds to the cluster.

Facts

Company
Google (Google LLC)
Official title
Parallel decoding for quantum error correcting codes
Patent number
US12762457B2
Application number
18952829
Filed
Nov 19, 2024
Granted
Oct 13, 2026
Inventors
1
Claims
20

Classified under

G06N 10/70 Physics & computing
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

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Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.