--- title: TimeBlockade (v0.46) description: API reference for qiskit.pulse.instructions.TimeBlockade in qiskit v0.46 source: https://eu-de.quantum.cloud.ibm.com/docs/en/api/qiskit/0.46/qiskit.pulse.instructions.TimeBlockade --- # TimeBlockade *class* `qiskit.pulse.instructions.TimeBlockade(duration, channel, name=None)` [GitHub](https://github.com/qiskit/qiskit/tree/stable/0.46/qiskit/pulse/instructions/directives.py) Bases: `Directive` Pulse `TimeBlockade` directive. This instruction is intended to be used internally within the pulse builder, to convert [`Schedule`](/docs/api/qiskit/0.46/qiskit.pulse.Schedule "qiskit.pulse.Schedule") into [`ScheduleBlock`](/docs/api/qiskit/0.46/qiskit.pulse.ScheduleBlock "qiskit.pulse.ScheduleBlock"). Because [`ScheduleBlock`](/docs/api/qiskit/0.46/qiskit.pulse.ScheduleBlock "qiskit.pulse.ScheduleBlock") cannot take an absolute instruction time interval, this directive helps the block representation to find the starting time of an instruction. **Example** This schedule plays constant pulse at t0 = 120. ```python schedule = Schedule() schedule.insert(120, Play(Constant(10, 0.1), DriveChannel(0))) ``` This schedule block is expected to be identical to above at a time of execution. ```python block = ScheduleBlock() block.append(TimeBlockade(120, DriveChannel(0))) block.append(Play(Constant(10, 0.1), DriveChannel(0))) ``` Such conversion may be done by ```python from qiskit.pulse.transforms import block_to_schedule, remove_directives schedule = remove_directives(block_to_schedule(block)) ``` > **Note** > > The TimeBlockade instruction behaves almost identically to [`Delay`](/docs/api/qiskit/0.46/qiskit.pulse.instructions.Delay "qiskit.pulse.instructions.Delay") instruction. However, the TimeBlockade is just a compiler directive and must be removed before execution. This may be done by [`remove_directives()`](/docs/api/qiskit/0.46/pulse#qiskit.pulse.transforms.remove_directives "qiskit.pulse.transforms.remove_directives") transform. Once these directives are removed, occupied timeslots are released and user can insert another instruction without timing overlap. Create a time blockade directive. **Parameters** - **duration** ([*int*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#int)) – Length of time of the occupation in terms of dt. - **channel** ([*Channel*](/docs/api/qiskit/0.46/pulse#qiskit.pulse.channels.Channel "qiskit.pulse.channels.Channel")) – The channel that will be the occupied. - **name** ([*str*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#str) *| None*) – Name of the time blockade for display purposes. ## Attributes ### channel Return the [`Channel`](/docs/api/qiskit/0.46/pulse#qiskit.pulse.channels.Channel "qiskit.pulse.channels.Channel") that this instruction is scheduled on. ### channels Returns the channels that this schedule uses. ### duration Duration of this instruction. ### id Unique identifier for this instruction. ### instructions Iterable for getting instructions from Schedule tree. ### name Name of this instruction. ### operands Return instruction operands. ### parameters Parameters which determine the instruction behavior. ### start\_time Relative begin time of this instruction. ### stop\_time Relative end time of this instruction. ## Methods ### append `append(schedule, name=None)` Return a new [`Schedule`](/docs/api/qiskit/0.46/qiskit.pulse.Schedule "qiskit.pulse.Schedule") with `schedule` inserted at the maximum time over all channels shared between `self` and `schedule`. **Parameters** - **schedule** (*Union\['Schedule', 'Instruction']*) – Schedule or instruction to be appended - **name** ([*str*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#str) *| None*) – Name of the new schedule. Defaults to name of self **Returns** A new schedule with `schedule` a this instruction at t=0. **Return type** [Schedule](/docs/api/qiskit/0.46/qiskit.pulse.Schedule "qiskit.pulse.Schedule") ### ch\_duration `ch_duration(*channels)` Return duration of the supplied channels in this Instruction. **Parameters** **\*channels** ([*List*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/typing.html#typing.List)*\[*[*Channel*](/docs/api/qiskit/0.46/pulse#qiskit.pulse.channels.Channel "qiskit.pulse.channels.Channel")*]*) – Supplied channels **Return type** [int](https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#int) ### ch\_start\_time `ch_start_time(*channels)` Return minimum start time for supplied channels. **Parameters** **\*channels** ([*List*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/typing.html#typing.List)*\[*[*Channel*](/docs/api/qiskit/0.46/pulse#qiskit.pulse.channels.Channel "qiskit.pulse.channels.Channel")*]*) – Supplied channels **Return type** [int](https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#int) ### ch\_stop\_time `ch_stop_time(*channels)` Return maximum start time for supplied channels. **Parameters** **\*channels** ([*List*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/typing.html#typing.List)*\[*[*Channel*](/docs/api/qiskit/0.46/pulse#qiskit.pulse.channels.Channel "qiskit.pulse.channels.Channel")*]*) – Supplied channels **Return type** [int](https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#int) ### draw `draw(dt=1, style=None, filename=None, interp_method=None, scale=1, plot_all=False, plot_range=None, interactive=False, table=True, label=False, framechange=True, channels=None)` Plot the instruction. > **Deprecated since version 0.23.0** > > The method `qiskit.pulse.instructions.instruction.Instruction.draw()` is deprecated as of qiskit-terra 0.23.0. It will be removed in the Qiskit 1.0 release. No direct alternative is being provided to drawing individual pulses. But, instructions can be visualized as part of a complete schedule using `qiskit.visualization.pulse_drawer`. **Parameters** - **dt** ([*float*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#float)) – Time interval of samples - **style** (*Optional\[SchedStyle]*) – A style sheet to configure plot appearance - **filename** ([*str*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#str) *| None*) – Name required to save pulse image - **interp\_method** ([*Callable*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/typing.html#typing.Callable) *| None*) – A function for interpolation - **scale** ([*float*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#float)) – Relative visual scaling of waveform amplitudes - **plot\_all** ([*bool*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#bool)) – Plot empty channels - **plot\_range** ([*Tuple*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/typing.html#typing.Tuple)*\[*[*float*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#float)*] | None*) – A tuple of time range to plot - **interactive** ([*bool*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#bool)) – When set true show the circuit in a new window (this depends on the matplotlib backend being used supporting this) - **table** ([*bool*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#bool)) – Draw event table for supported instructions - **label** ([*bool*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#bool)) – Label individual instructions - **framechange** ([*bool*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#bool)) – Add framechange indicators - **channels** ([*List*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/typing.html#typing.List)*\[*[*Channel*](/docs/api/qiskit/0.46/pulse#qiskit.pulse.channels.Channel "qiskit.pulse.channels.Channel")*] | None*) – A list of channel names to plot **Returns** A matplotlib figure object of the pulse schedule **Return type** matplotlib.figure ### insert `insert(start_time, schedule, name=None)` Return a new [`Schedule`](/docs/api/qiskit/0.46/qiskit.pulse.Schedule "qiskit.pulse.Schedule") with `schedule` inserted within `self` at `start_time`. **Parameters** - **start\_time** ([*int*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#int)) – Time to insert the schedule schedule - **schedule** (*Union\['Schedule', 'Instruction']*) – Schedule or instruction to insert - **name** ([*str*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#str) *| None*) – Name of the new schedule. Defaults to name of self **Returns** A new schedule with `schedule` inserted with this instruction at t=0. **Return type** [Schedule](/docs/api/qiskit/0.46/qiskit.pulse.Schedule "qiskit.pulse.Schedule") ### is\_parameterized `is_parameterized()` Return True iff the instruction is parameterized. **Return type** [bool](https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#bool) ### shift `shift(time, name=None)` Return a new schedule shifted forward by time. **Parameters** - **time** ([*int*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/functions.html#int)) – Time to shift by - **name** ([*str*](https://docs.python.org/3/library/stdtypes.html#str) *| None*) – Name of the new schedule. Defaults to name of self **Returns** The shifted schedule. **Return type** [Schedule](/docs/api/qiskit/0.46/qiskit.pulse.Schedule "qiskit.pulse.Schedule")