With the emergence of the internet of things, household items (such as toasters and refrigerators) as well as portable, handheld computers and digital cameras are all being connected to the internet as end systems.
End systems are generally connected to each other using switching devices known as routers rather than using a single communication link.
The path that transmitted information takes from the sending end system, through a series of communications links and routers, to the receiving end system is known as a route or path through the network.
[4] The sending and receiving route can be different, and can be reallocated during transmission due to changes in the network topology.
For the end user the actual routing should be completely transparent.