If I called you on your cell phone, and you pressed #9 while we were talking, I would hear the touch tones.

So if I were the gate phone calling you, and heard the touch tones #9 coming from you, I would press the clicker that opens the gate.

Electronically, the gate phone has a circuit built into it that is listening for those specific touch tones. When it gets the right ones, in the right sequence, it triggers the relay that cycles the gate.