What is the purpose of the 8 tooth timing gear? I recently ran across the 32060 Technic Gear Timing Wheel 8 Tooth element when sorting a mixed bag of parts.

This element doesn't appear in many sets as a functional element. Here's one example from the Barcode-Multi-Set (8479) set:

What is the purpose of this element, and how does it work? I'm guessing from the name that it has something to do with timing. Perhaps it is used as a rotary encoder somehow?
When looking at Blakbird's Technicopedia page for this Technic set, this part is indeed used as a rotary encoder in combination with the bar code scanner.
See the last entry on the page.