Data sharing apparatus and method

1. A data sharing apparatus comprising:

a social relationship management unit for managing social network group information formed by a user while the user utilizes a social network service;

a device recognition and authentication unit for identifying a mobile terminal of another party attempting to make a connection in order to exchange data, and allocating a data communication channel for data exchange, based on device information received from the mobile terminal of the other party attempting to make a connection and the social network group information;

a shared data setting unit for setting data to be shared with the mobile terminal of the other party between which the data communication channel has been established; and

a shared data transmission unit for transmitting the data to be shared to the mobile terminal of the other party.

2. The data sharing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the social network group information comprises information about one or more of a family group member, a friend group member, and a colleague group member.

3. The data sharing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the device information comprises owner information, identification (ID) information, and available network information of the corresponding mobile terminal.

4. The data sharing apparatus of claim 1 wherein the social relationship management unit comprises a user interface enabling the social network group information to be reconfigured.

5. The data sharing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:

the social relationship management unit additionally manages information about a connection between mobile terminals possessed by group members of the social network service, and

information about the connection between the mobile terminals includes a value indicating continuance strength of data exchange between the mobile terminals, frequency of a connection between the mobile terminals, and type of contents mutually transferred between the mobile terminals.

6. The data sharing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the device recognition and authentication unit parses the device information received from the mobile terminal of the other party attempting to make the connection, and allocates the data communication channel based on preconfigured sociality information.

7. The data sharing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the shared data setting unit sets a data-sharing area to be shared with the mobile terminal of the other party between which the data communication channel has been established, depending on input of the user related to setting of the data-sharing area, and transmits the data to be shared to the shared data transmission unit as the data to be shared is selected from the data-sharing area.

8. The data sharing apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the shared data setting unit automatically sets a data-sharing area to be shared with the mobile terminal of the other party, based on data sharing history between mobile terminals connected to each other, and transmits the data to be shared to the shared data transmission unit as the data to be shared is selected from the data-sharing area.

9. The data sharing apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a shared data display unit for displaying the data to be shared.

10. A data sharing method comprising:

managing, by a social relationship management unit, social network group information formed by a user while the user utilizes a social network service;

identifying, by a device recognition and authentication unit, a mobile terminal of another party attempting to make a connection in order to exchange data, and allocating a data communication channel for data exchange, based on device information received from the mobile terminal of the other party attempting to make a connection and the social network group information;

setting, by a shared data setting unit, data to be shared with the mobile terminal of the other party between which the data communication channel has been established; and

transmitting, by a shared data transmission unit, the data to be shared to the mobile terminal of the other party.

11. The data sharing method of claim 10 , wherein the social network group information comprises information about one or more of a family group member, a friend group member, and a colleague group member.

12. The data sharing method of claim 10 , wherein the device information comprises owner information, identification (ID) information, and available network information of the corresponding mobile terminal.

13. The data sharing method of claim 10 , wherein setting the data to be shared comprises:

setting a data-sharing area to be shared with the mobile terminal of the other party between which the data communication channel has been established, depending on input of the user related to setting of the data-sharing area; and

transmitting the data to be shared to the shared data transmission unit as the data to be shared is selected from the data-sharing area.

14. The data sharing method of claim 10 , wherein setting the data to be shared comprises:

automatically setting a data-sharing area to be shared with the mobile terminal of the other party, based on data sharing history between mobile terminals connected to each other; and

transmitting the data to be shared to the shared data transmission unit as the data to be shared is selected from the data-sharing area.

15. The data sharing method of claim 10 , further comprising displaying, by a shared data display unit, the data to be shared.