Automatic correspondence of encoders and decoders to video ports

A method for mapping communications ports of a network device to encoders and decoders coupled to the network device, comprising, at a network device comprising a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports and coupled to a video communications network:

• at each output port of the plurality of output ports, embedding port-specific information to a video output signal transmitted by a respective output port to an encoder connected to the respective output port, wherein the port-specific information identifies the respective output port;
• querying the video communications network for a plurality of encoders connected to the video communications network and a plurality of port-specific information received and detected by the plurality of respective encoders;
• mapping the plurality of output ports to a plurality of corresponding encoders in a mapping table based on the queried port-specific information, wherein each output port is mapped to an encoder associated with the port-specific information detected by the encoder and embedded into the video output signal transmitted by the respective output port;
• for each input port of the plurality of input ports, detecting decoder-specific information from an input video signal received from a decoder connected to a respective input port, wherein the decoder-specific information identifies the decoder;
• querying the video communications network for a plurality of decoders connected to the video communications network and a plurality of decoder-specific information supplied by the plurality of respective decoders;
• and
• mapping the plurality of input ports to a plurality of corresponding decoders in the mapping table based on the queried decoder-specific information, wherein each input port is mapped to a decoder associated with the decoder-specific information supplied by the decoder and detected from the input video signal received at the respective input port.