def encode_inference(
        self,
        n: int,
        target: TimeSeries,
        covariates: Optional[TimeSeries] = None,
        merge_covariates: bool = True,
        **kwargs,
    ) -> TimeSeries:
        """Each subclass must implement a method to encode the covariates index for prediction.

        Parameters
        ----------
        n
            The forecast horizon
        target
            The target TimeSeries used during training or passed to prediction as `series`
        covariates
            Optionally, the past or future covariates used for prediction.
        merge_covariates
            Whether to merge the encoded TimeSeries with `covariates`.

        """
        pass
Each subclass must implement a method to encode the covariates index for prediction.

        Parameters
        ----------
        n
            The forecast horizon
        target
            The target TimeSeries used during training or passed to prediction as `series`
        covariates
            Optionally, the past or future covariates used for prediction.
        merge_covariates
            Whether to merge the encoded TimeSeries with `covariates`.

        
darts/dataprocessing/encoders/encoder_base.py