Criticality-Informed Caching Policies

A method comprising:

• assigning criticality values to cache lines in a cache based on a plurality of factors at a time the cache lines are filled into the cache;
• representing a given cache line at a selected position in replacement data for the cache during the fill of the given cache line based on the criticality value assigned to the given cache line;
• and
• selecting a victim cache line to be evicted from the cache based on the replacement data, including selectively preventing cache lines having criticality values indicating a critical status from selection as the victim cache line based on a probability.

A cache configured to cache data from a memory system for access by one or more processors, the comprising a control circuit wherein:

• the control circuit is configured to assign criticality values to cache lines based on a plurality of factors at a time the cache lines are filled into the cache;
• during the fill of a given cache line, the control circuit is configured to represent a given cache line at a selected position in replacement data for the cache based on the criticality value assigned to the given cache line;
• the control circuit is configured to select a victim cache line to be evicted from the cache based on the replacement data;
• and
• the control circuit is configured to selectively prevent cache lines having criticality values indicating a critical status from selection as the victim cache line based on a probability.