Patents by Inventor Hugo Zbinden

Hugo Zbinden has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Publication number: 20240007196
    Abstract: Free-Space quantum keyless private communication method according to a communication protocol comprising exchanging information between an emitter (100) and a receiver (200) through a main quantum-classical channel and with an eavesdropper tapping said main channel through a wiretap channel, based on the wiretap channel model, wherein the overall degradation of the wiretap channel is superior than that of the main channel, comprising the steps of preparing, at the emitter (100), a message M composed of classical bits, coding said message M so as to transform it into a coded message X, practical modulating the amplitude and/or the phase of the optical pulses of the coded classical bits, sending the encoded message to the receiver (200) through a classical-quantum channel (500), such that an eavesdropper (300) tapping said channel is provided with partial information about the said states only, detecting and decoding the received message through quantum security analysis.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 17, 2021
    Publication date: January 4, 2024
    Inventors: Hugo Zbinden, Angeles Vazquez Castro
  • Patent number: 11620107
    Abstract: The invention is directed to a Quantum Random Number Generator comprising an emitting device (110) triggered by a signal representing an input bit x and adapted to generate and send a physical system (130) characterized by one of two possible quantum states determined by said input bit x, a measurement device (120) adapted to detect said physical system, to identify the quantum state of said physical system through an unambiguous state discrimination measurement and to generate an output b first representing whether the quantum state has been identified or not and, if it has been identified, which quantum state among the two possible quantum states was detected by the unambiguous state discrimination measurement to a processing device (140), the processing device (140) being adapted to estimate the entropy of the output b given the probabilities p(b|x) representing the probability of observing output b for a state preparation x, and a randomness extraction device (150) adapted to extract final random bit stre
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 6, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 4, 2023
    Assignee: UNIVERSITÉ DE GENÈVE
    Inventors: Anthony Christophe Mickaël Martin, Nicolas Brunner, Hugo Zbinden, Jonatan Brask, Joseph Bowles
  • Patent number: 11240017
    Abstract: The invention relates to a Quantum Key Distribution system comprising a transmitter 300 and a receiver 400 for exchanging a quantum key via a quantum channel 600 through a decoy-state three state protocol wherein the transmitter comprises a transmitter processing unit 340 adapted to use random numbers from a quantum random generator to select a quantum state to encode from different states of intensity and basis, a Pulsed light source 310 adapted to generate an optical pulse, a time-bin interferometer 320 through which the generated optical pulse passes and which transforms generated optical pulse into two coherent pulses separated by the time bin duration, a single intensity modulator 360 adapted to change the intensity of the two pulses individually according to the choice made by the transmitter processing unit 340, and a variable optical attenuator 370 adapted to reduce the overall signal intensity to the optimum photon number per pulse.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 2, 2018
    Date of Patent: February 1, 2022
    Assignee: UNIVERSITE DE GENEVE
    Inventors: Hugo Zbinden, Boris Korzh, Charles Lim, Gianluca Boso
  • Publication number: 20200067704
    Abstract: The invention relates to a Quantum Key Distribution system comprising a transmitter 300 and a receiver 400 for exchanging a quantum key via a quantum channel 600 through a decoy-state three state protocol wherein the transmitter comprises a transmitter processing unit 340 adapted to use random numbers from a quantum random generator to select a quantum state to encode from different states of intensity and basis, a Pulsed light source 310 adapted to generate an optical pulse, a time-bin interferometer 320 through which the generated optical pulse passes and which transforms generated optical pulse into two coherent pulses separated by the time bin duration, a single intensity modulator 360 adapted to change the intensity of the two pulses individually according to the choice made by the transmitter processing unit 340, and a variable optical attenuator 370 adapted to reduce the overall signal intensity to the optimum photon number per pulse.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 2, 2018
    Publication date: February 27, 2020
    Inventors: Hugo ZBINDEN, Boris KORZH, Charles LIM, Gianluca BOSO
  • Publication number: 20190243611
    Abstract: The invention is directed to a Quantum Random Number Generator comprising an emitting device (110) triggered by a signal representing an input bit x and adapted to generate and send a physical system (130) characterized by one of two possible quantum states determined by said input bit x, a measurement device (120) adapted to detect said physical system, to identify the quantum state of said physical system through an unambiguous state discrimination measurement and to generate an output b first representing whether the quantum state has been identified or not and, if it has been identified, which quantum state among the two possible quantum states was detected by the unambiguous state discrimination measurement to a processing device (140), the processing device (140) being adapted to estimate the entropy of the output b given the probabilities p(b|x) representing the probability of observing output b for a state preparation x, and a randomness extraction device (150) adapted to extract final random bit stre
    Type: Application
    Filed: October 6, 2017
    Publication date: August 8, 2019
    Applicant: Université de Genève
    Inventors: Anthony Christophe Mickaël MARTIN, Nicolas BRUNNER, Hugo Zbinden, Jonatan BRASK, Joseph BOWLES
  • Patent number: 10331412
    Abstract: A device for random number generation based on an optical process of quantum nature, including a light source emitting photons randomly, a light detector adapted to absorb the randomly emitted photons and to measure a number n of photons produced by the light source in a time interval T, and a randomness extractor. The detector includes a photon sensor acting as a photon-to-electron converter, an amplifier for converting the electron signal received from the photon sensor into a voltage and amplifying the voltage signal, as well as an analog-to-digital converter for processing the amplified signal received from the amplifier by encoding the amplified signal into digital values and sending these digital values to the randomness extractor for further processing such as to produce quantum random numbers (QRNs) based on the number of photons produced by the light source in a time interval T.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2019
    Assignee: Université de Genève
    Inventors: Bruno Sanguinetti, Anthony Martin, Nicolas Gisin, Hugo Zbinden
  • Patent number: 10063891
    Abstract: A data compression method wherein said data comprises noise and information, comprising a data acquisition step, a pre-compression parameter selection step, wherein said pre-compression parameters are linked to an information loss, a compression step, and a storage step, the compression step being characterized in that it comprises a lossy pre-compression for removing some noise of the data, carried out using the pre-compression parameters selected in the selection step followed by lossless compression for compressing the remaining data.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 23, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 28, 2018
    Assignee: Université de Genève
    Inventors: Anthony Martin, Hugo Zbinden, Bruno Sanguinetti
  • Publication number: 20170337037
    Abstract: A device for random number generation based on an optical process of quantum nature, including a light source emitting photons randomly, a light detector adapted to absorb the randomly emitted photons and to measure a number n of photons produced by the light source in a time interval T, and a randomness extractor. The detector includes a photon sensor acting as a photon-to-electron converter, an amplifier for converting the electron signal received from the photon sensor into a voltage and amplifying the voltage signal, as well as an analog-to-digital converter for processing the amplified signal received from the amplifier by encoding the amplified signal into digital values and sending these digital values to the randomness extractor for further processing such as to produce quantum random numbers (QRNs) based on the number of photons produced by the light source in a time interval T.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 25, 2017
    Publication date: November 23, 2017
    Inventors: Bruno SANGUINETTI, Anthony MARTIN, Nicolas GISIN, Hugo ZBINDEN
  • Patent number: 9747077
    Abstract: A device for random number generation based on an optical process of quantum nature, including a light source emitting photons randomly, a light detector adapted to absorb the randomly emitted photons and to measure a number n of photons produced by the light source in a time interval T, and a randomness extractor. The detector includes a photon sensor acting as a photon-to-electron converter, an amplifier for converting the electron signal received from the photon sensor into a voltage and amplifying the voltage signal, as well as an analog-to-digital converter for processing the amplified signal received from the amplifier by encoding the amplified signal into digital values and sending these digital values to the randomness extractor for further processing such as to produce quantum random numbers (QRNs) based on the number of photons produced by the light source in a time interval T.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 2015
    Date of Patent: August 29, 2017
    Assignee: Université de Genève
    Inventors: Bruno Sanguinetti, Anthony Martin, Nicolas Gisin, Hugo Zbinden
  • Publication number: 20170208347
    Abstract: A data compression method wherein said data comprises noise and information, comprising a data acquisition step, a pre-compression parameter selection step, wherein said pre-compression parameters are linked to an information loss, a compression step, and a storage step, the compression step being characterized in that it comprises a lossy pre-compression for removing some noise of the data, carried out using the pre-compression parameters selected in the selection step followed by lossless compression for compressing the remaining data.
    Type: Application
    Filed: December 23, 2016
    Publication date: July 20, 2017
    Inventors: Anthony MARTIN, Hugo ZBINDEN, Bruno SANGUINETTI
  • Publication number: 20170060534
    Abstract: A device for random number generation based on an optical process of quantum nature, including a light source emitting photons randomly, a light detector adapted to absorb the randomly emitted photons and to measure a number n of photons produced by the light source in a time interval T, and a randomness extractor. The detector includes a photon sensor acting as a photon-to-electron converter, an amplifier for converting the electron signal received from the photon sensor into a voltage and amplifying the voltage signal, as well as an analog-to-digital converter for processing the amplified signal received from the amplifier by encoding the amplified signal into digital values and sending these digital values to the randomness extractor for further processing such as to produce quantum random numbers (QRNs) based on the number of photons produced by the light source in a time interval T.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 27, 2015
    Publication date: March 2, 2017
    Inventors: Bruno SANGUINETTI, Anthony MARTIN, Nicolas GISIN, Hugo ZBINDEN
  • Patent number: 8995650
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for implementing a secure quantum cryptography system using two non-orthogonal states. For each qubit, the emitter station prepares a quantum system in one of two non-orthogonal quantum states in the time-basis to code bit values. Intra- and inter-qubit interference is then used to reveal eavesdropping attempts. Witness states are used to help reveal attacks performed across the quantum system separation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2010
    Date of Patent: March 31, 2015
    Assignee: ID Quantique SA
    Inventors: Nicolas Gisin, Grégoire Ribordy, Hugo Zbinden
  • Publication number: 20130016835
    Abstract: For distributing a sequence of symbols, an emitter station transmits to a receiver station quantum systems through a quantum channel. Each of the quantum systems belongs to a set of at least two non-orthogonal quantum states and comprises a group of at least two weak coherent states of an electromagnetic field. Each weak coherent state is in a time bin of duration t. Centers of neighboring weak coherent states in a group are separated by a time T1, with T1 greater than t. Centers of neighboring weak coherent states in adjacent quantum systems are separated by a time T2, with T2 greater than t. In addition, any two weak coherent states separated by T1+T2 are phase coherent. The receiver station comprises an optical subsystem configured to check, for received quantum systems, phase coherence of two weak coherent states of time bins separated by T1+T2.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 13, 2011
    Publication date: January 17, 2013
    Applicant: UNIVERSITE DE GENEVE
    Inventors: Hugo ZBINDEN, Nino WALENTA, Charles Ci Wen LIM
  • Patent number: 8320774
    Abstract: An apparatus and method are disclosed for maximizing interference contrast in an interferometric quantum cryptography system to detect eavesdropping by utilizing a tunable emitter station in communications with a receiver station via a quantum communications channel and a “public” communications channel. The tunable emitter station tracks and compensates for interferometer drifts by adjusting the interference contrast of the QC system to minimize or eliminate inherent perturbations induced into key bit transmissions. Tuning of the photo emitter's output wavelength is accomplishable using temperature and/or drive current adjustment of the emitter's tunable optical subsystem.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 7, 2007
    Date of Patent: November 27, 2012
    Assignee: ID Quantique SA
    Inventor: Hugo Zbinden
  • Patent number: 7929690
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for implementing a secure quantum cryptography system using two non-orthogonal states. For each qubit, the to emitter station prepares a quantum system in one of two non-orthogonal quantum states in the time-basis to code bit values. Intra- and inter-qubit interference is then used to reveal eavesdropping attempts. Witness states are used to help reveal attacks performed across the quantum system separation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 1, 2005
    Date of Patent: April 19, 2011
    Assignee: ID Quantique SA
    Inventors: Nicolas Gisin, Grégoire Ribordy, Hugo Zbinden
  • Publication number: 20100239250
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for implementing a secure quantum cryptography system using two non-orthogonal states. For each qubit, the emitter station prepares a quantum system in one of two non-orthogonal quantum states in the time-basis to code bit values. Intra- and inter-qubit interference is then used to reveal eavesdropping attempts.
    Type: Application
    Filed: June 4, 2010
    Publication date: September 23, 2010
    Inventors: Nicolas GISIN, Grégoire Ribordy, Hugo Zbinden
  • Patent number: 7580524
    Abstract: In a method and apparatus for synchronizing the receiver and the emitter in an autocompensating quantum cryptography system it is allowed to one of the stations (for example the emitter) to define the timing of all its operations (for example the application of a signal onto the modulator used to encode the values of the bits) as a function of a time reference. This time reference can either be transmitted using a channel from the other station (for example the receiver). It can also consist of a time reference synchronized with that of the other station through using information transmitted along a channel and a synchronization unit. Preferably a time reference unit is provided at each station. One of these time reference units functions as a master, while the other one function as a slave. The slave is synchronized with the master using information transmitted over a communication channel by a synchronization unit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 11, 2003
    Date of Patent: August 25, 2009
    Assignee: Universite De Geneve
    Inventors: Nicolas Gisin, Olivier Guinnard, Grégoire Ribordy, Hugo Zbinden
  • Publication number: 20090010435
    Abstract: An apparatus and method are disclosed for maximizing interference contrast in an interferometric quantum cryptography system to detect eavesdropping by utilizing a tunable emitter station in communications with a receiver station via a quantum communications channel and a “public” communications channel. The tunable emitter station tracks and compensates for interferometer drifts by adjusting the interference contrast of the QC system to minimize or eliminate inherent perturbations induced into key bit transmissions. Tuning of the photo emitter's output wavelength is accomplishable using temperature and/or drive current adjustment of the emitter's tunable optical subsystem.
    Type: Application
    Filed: July 7, 2007
    Publication date: January 8, 2009
    Inventor: Hugo Zbinden
  • Publication number: 20080292099
    Abstract: An apparatus and method for implementing a secure quantum cryptography system using two non-orthogonal states. For each qubit, the to emitter station prepares a quantum system in one of two non-orthogonal quantum states in the time-basis to code bit values. Intra- and inter-qubit interference is then used to reveal eavesdropping attempts. Witness states are used to help reveal attacks performed across the quantum system separation.
    Type: Application
    Filed: September 1, 2005
    Publication date: November 27, 2008
    Applicant: ID QUANTIQUE S.A.
    Inventors: Nicolas Gisin, Grégoire Ribordy, Hugo Zbinden
  • Publication number: 20030231771
    Abstract: In a method and apparatus for synchronizing the receiver and the emitter in an autocompensating quantum cryptography system it is allowed to one of the stations (for example the emitter) to define the timing of all its operations (for example the application of a signal onto the modulator used to encode the values of the bits) as a function of a time reference. This time reference can either be transmitted using a channel from the other station (for example the receiver). It can also consist of a time reference synchronized with that of the other station through using information transmitted along a channel and a synchronization unit. Preferably a time reference unit is provided at each station. One of these time reference units functions as a master, while the other one function as a slave. The slave is synchronized with the master using information transmitted over a communication channel by a synchronization unit.
    Type: Application
    Filed: March 11, 2003
    Publication date: December 18, 2003
    Applicant: Universite de Geneve
    Inventors: Nicolas Gisin, Olivier Guinnard, Gregoire Ribordy, Hugo Zbinden