Access control system with rules engine architecture

1. An access control system, comprising:

a client application running on hardware circuitry operable to provide a user interface for allowing a user of the client application to dynamically configure a set of rules and associated parameters for controlling access by a person to an entity based upon information from a card reader, wherein said interface uses a ladder icon diagram for configuring said set of rules and associated parameters;

a plurality of preexisting icons within the client application selected from the user interface by the user of the client application that each define a component of the dynamically configured set of rules and associated parameters within the ladder icon diagram, at least a first of the plurality of icons comprising a card reader icon and a second of the plurality of icons comprising a user icon that identifies each of a plurality of card users authorized to use the card reader and wherein the user clicks on an icon of the plurality of icons that define the set of rules to display and change parameters of the icon;

a rules engine proxy running on the hardware circuitry operable to receive one or more icons of the plurality of icons selected by the user of the client application from the client application the received icons defining said rules and associated parameters, the rules engine proxy further operable to dynamically compile and execute said rules; and

a controller running on the hardware circuitry coupled to the rules engine proxy operable to receive input from the card reader and further operable to trigger the rules engine proxy to execute one or more of said rules in response to the received input and generated corresponding output, wherein said controller uses access control logic which is represented by said ladder diagram, wherein said ladder diagram has a plurality of rungs and each rung has a plurality of icons, exclusive of a right most icon, wherein upon detecting variables represented by the plurality of icons appearing on the same rung of the ladder evaluate to a value, setting a variable represented by the right most icon evaluating to a predetermined value dependent on said value of said plurality of icons.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface implements said ladder icon diagram for configuring said rules and associated parameters, said rules being built using said plurality of icons representing elements of said rules and logical operations among the plurality of icons.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the user interface allows adding, deleting and updating of one or more parameters associated with an icon of said plurality of icons.

4. The system of claim 2 , wherein the user interface provides drag and drop capabilities for dragging and dropping the icons into the ladder diagram for building a rule.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein the rules engine proxy includes a static function library and variable library that is generated dynamically based on the received rules and associated parameters.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein said input includes a card swipe, biometrics information, smart card identification, or combinations thereof, allowing multi access levels of management.

7. The system of claim 1 , wherein the client application is remotely coupled to the rules engine proxy.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the client application is coupled to the rules engine proxy via Ethernet.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein the rules engine proxy is integrated into a legacy system.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the user interface further includes a translator operable to translate user entered rules in graphical form to an expression storable and executable by a machine.

11. A method of controlling access to a secured entity, comprising:

providing a client application including at least a user interface operable to allow a user of the client application to configure and update a set of rules and associated parameters that allow access by a person to an entity based upon information received from a card reader;

providing a plurality of icons within the client application selected from the user interface by the user of the client application that each define a component of the dynamically configured set of rules and associated parameters within the ladder icon diagram, at least a first of the plurality of icons comprising a card reader icon and a second of the plurality of icons comprising a user icon that identifies each of a plurality of card users authorized to use the card reader and wherein the user clicks on an icon of the plurality of icons that define the set of rules to display and change parameters of the icon;

the user of the client application selecting from the user interface one or more of the plurality of icons and building said rules using a ladder diagram defined by the one or more selected icons, wherein said ladder diagram has a plurality of rungs and each rung has a plurality of icons, exclusive of a right most icon, wherein upon detecting the variable represented by each of the plurality of icons appearing on the same rung evaluate to a value, setting a variable represented by the right most icon to a value dependent on said value of said plurality of icons;

receiving said rules and associated parameters;

dynamically generating executable expressions based on said rules and associated parameters; and

executing said expressions in response to an event.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein said event is receiving a card swipe, biometrics information, smart card identification, or combinations thereof.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein said user interface is operable to allow a user to dynamically configure said rules and associated parameters for controlling access to an entity.