The inference engine is the part of the Jboss BRMS engine which matches production facts and data to rules. It is often called the brain of a Production Rules System as it is able to scale to a large number of rules and facts. It makes inferences based on its existing knowledge and performs the actions based on what it infers from the information.

The rules are stored in the production memory and the facts that the inference engine matches against, are stored in the working memory. Facts are asserted into the working memory where they may get modified or retracted. A system with a large number of rules and facts may result in many rules being true for the same fact assertion. Such conflicting rules are managed using a conflict resolution strategy. This strategy determines the order of execution of the rules by assigning a priority level to each rule.

Inferences can be forward chaining or backward chaining. In a forward chaining inference machanism, when some data gets inserted into the working memory, the related rules are triggered and if the data satisfies the rule conditions, corresponding actions are taken. These actions may insert new data into the working memory and therefore trigger more rules and so on. Thus, the forward chaining inference is data driven. On the contrary, the backward chaining inference is goal driven. In this case, the system looks for a particular goal, which the engine tries to satisfy. If it cannot do so it searches for sub-goals, that is, conclusions that will complete part of the current goal. It continues this process until either the initial conclusion is satisfied or there are no more unsatisfied sub-goals. Correct use of inference can create agile and less error prone business rules, which are easier to maintain.

The following example illustrates how an inference is made about whether a person is eligible to have a bus pass based on the rule conditions. Here is a rule that provides the age policy for a person to hold a bus pass:

rule "Infer Adult"
when
  $p : Person( age >= 18 )
then
  insert( new IsAdult( $p ) )
end

Based on this rule, a rule engine infers whether a person is an adult or a child and act on it. Every person who is 18 years or above will have an instance of IsAdult inserted for them in the working memory. This inferred relation of age and bus pass can be inferred in any rule, such as:

$p : Person()
IsAdult( person == $p )