IBM Patent Application Targets More Efficient Sharing of Quantum Computers

Insider Brief

• An IBM patent application describes a way to run multiple users’ quantum jobs together while reducing the work required for error mitigation.
• The proposed scheduler would group compatible circuits and reuse stored noise models, with checks for available qubits, execution time and user preferences.
• The filing describes potential billing rebates for users who allow sharing but does not report measured improvements in throughput, waiting times or costs.

IBM is seeking patent protection for a method that would let multiple users share a quantum processor while reducing some of the work needed to compensate for errors, potentially allowing providers to get more useful computation from their hardware, according to a newly published patent application.

The application, titled “Quantum Queue Optimization for Error Mitigation,” describes software that examines waiting jobs, identifies programs that can run together and schedules them to reuse previously collected information about the processor’s noise.

The application, which was filed May 5, 2025 and approved on Nov. 5 of this year, addresses two related sources of inefficiency. A user’s program may require only a portion of a processor’s qubits, the basic units of quantum information. Giving that program exclusive access can leave other qubits unused. Meanwhile, error mitigation can require additional experiments to characterize how noise affects the operations being performed.