What is Care-of address?

A care-of address is a temporary IP address for a mobile device used in Internet routing. This allows a home agent to forward messages to the mobile device. A separate address is required because the IP address of the device that is used as host identification is topologically incorrect—it does not match the network of attachment. The care-of address splits the dual nature of an IP address, that is, its use is to identify the host and the location within the global IP network.