Method for managing a cache memory of an electronic computer

A management unit for managing a cache memory of an electronic computer, this unit being configured for carrying out the following steps during the execution by this computer of a process which is intended to process a word:

• a) reception of a request containing an address of the word to be read or to be written, this address comprising:
• a line tag,
• a set address, this set address belonging to a first set of s different values, where the value s is an integer greater than two,
• b) transformation of the set address received into a transformed set address by means of a bijective transformation function which permutes at least two values from the first set,
• c) selection of one or more line tags stored in the cache memory at the transformed set address,
• d) comparison of the line tag received with the line tag or line tags selected as a function of the transformed set address, in order to determine whether one of these line tags selected corresponds to the received line tag,
• e) when none of the selected tags corresponds to the received line tag, triggering of a miss and a supply of the word from a memory of higher rank, and when, on the contrary, one of the line tags selected corresponds to the received line tag, reading or writing in the cache memory of the word inside of a line associated with the line tag which corresponds to the received line tag,
• f) modification of the transformation function, this modification of the transformation function being repeated several times during the execution of the process such that, during the same execution of the process, the transformation function associates, successively over time, with a same set address able to be received, several different transformed set addresses,
• in which:
• the management unit comprises a transformation function parameterized by a parameter q such that the transformed set address obtained during the step f) depends both on the received set address and on a value of this parameter q, and for all non-zero values of the parameter q, the transformation function permutes at least 50% of the set addresses, and
• the management unit is configured for, during each execution of the step f), generating a new value of the parameter q for modifying the transformation function.