Abstract: A pipelined computing device is provided that is designed i) to generate a list of coordinates of starting points and endpoints of chains and to store these in a memory, ii) for each starting point and endpoint, to search the list of coordinates of starting points and endpoints for the last occurrence of the same coordinates or coordinates lying within a neighborhood of a specified size, and iii) to allocate to each starting point or endpoint a vertex index and an instance index, wherein the vertex index is a running index of vertices and the instance index represents a running index of the starting points and endpoints belonging to a vertex, wherein associated points from the set of starting points and endpoints receive the same vertex index and are those points that have the same coordinates or coordinates that lie within the neighborhood of a specified size.