74123 can only generate pulses when pulses are fed to its inputs ..
To generate 8-channel signals for IR you need something more intelligent than that, eg. a small microcontroller such as PIC or PICAXE ..
See: https://www.rev-ed.co.uk/docs/axe040.pdf
In this case you can design a system based on several 74123s that on one end will generate pulses of certain duration, and on the receiver end will detect the duration of a pulse and act accordingly ..
It looks like an exercise for the sake of an exercise, but it can be done ..
Study this paper, and it should give you some ideas on how to design pulse generators and pulse duration detectors, all based on the 74123: https://focus.ti.com/lit/an/sdla006a/sdla006a.pdf