A design pattern for active rule-based system architectures

A design pattern provides a general solution for common and recurring problems. This paper describes a design pattern for an architecture design of active rule-based systems. The rule-based approach uses event-condition-action rules to specify and manage event-driven activities. The pattern described in this paper can form the basis to design system architecture using active rules and serve as a reference to customized development. The paper presents architectural components of a rule-based system by three categories: interfaces, static time components, and run time components to describe the participants of the pattern. It also illustrates how those components collaborate at static time and at run time. It further discusses the issues of implementing the pattern and provides suggestions and examples of implementation.