A Classic-Quantum Hybrid Network Framework: CQH-Net

Deep Learning has shown remarkable capabilities in pattern recognition, feature extraction, and classification decision-making. With the rise of quantum computing, the potential of quantum neural networks (QNNs) in Artificial Intelligence is emerging. However, the intrinsic mechanisms and decision transparency of QNNs remain unclear. In this paper, we propose a classic-quantum hybrid network framework (CQH-Net), which uses traditional machine learning methods for feature extraction and quantizes neural networks for classification tasks. We apply CQH-Net to image classification on public datasets. Experimentally, CQH-Net achieves an average convergence rate improvement of 72.8% compared to classical convolutional networks (CNNs) with identical parameters. On the Fashion MNIST dataset, it reaches a final accuracy of 99.02%, representing a significant increase of 5.07% over CNNs. Furthermore, we explore visual explanations for CQH-Net's decision-making process. Results show that the model effectively captures key data features during training and establishes associations between these features and their corresponding categories. This study demonstrates that quantization enhances the models ability to tackle complex classification problems while providing transparency in its decision-making process further supporting quantum advantages in machine learning.