Techniques for allocating time and frequency resources to an uplink channel to carry uplink control information used for narrowband communication

An apparatus for wireless communication at a base station, comprising:

• a processor;
• memory in communication with the processor;
• and
• instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:
• identify time resources and frequency resources for narrowband communication in a plurality of subframes;
• identify a plurality of user equipment (UE) devices;
• allocate at least a first portion of the time resources and the frequency resources to an uplink (UL) channel to carry UL control information, wherein the first portion includes a first slot of seven symbols and a second slot of seven symbols;
• allocate resources of the UL channel to the identified plurality of UE devices, wherein the allocated resources include single tone allocations for the identified plurality of UE devices;
• and
• allocate symbols one, two, six and seven of the first slot and the second slot for UL data transmissions and symbols three, four and five of the first slot and the second slot for reference symbol transmissions.

A method for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) device, comprising:

• identifying time resources and frequency resources for narrowband communication in a plurality of subframes;
• receiving an indication that at least a first portion of the time resources and the frequency resources are allocated to an uplink (UL) channel to carry UL control information for the UE device, wherein the first portion includes a single tone allocation for the UE, wherein the first portion includes a first slot of seven symbols and a second slot of seven symbols and symbols one, two, six and seven of the first and second slots are allocated for UL data transmissions and symbols three, four and five of the first and second slots are allocated for reference symbol transmissions;
• and
• transmitting one or both of downlink acknowledgements (ACKs) and downlink non-acknowledgements (NAKs) in one or more of symbols one, two, six or seven of at least one of the first slot or the second slot of the first portion.

An apparatus for wireless communication at a user equipment (UE) device, comprising:

• a processor;
• memory in communication with the processor;
• and
• instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the processor to:
• identify time resources and frequency resources for narrowband communication in a plurality of subframes;
• receive an indication that at least a first portion of the time resources and the frequency resources are allocated to an uplink (UL) channel to carry UL control information for the UE device, wherein the first portion includes a single tone allocation for the UE, wherein the first portion includes a first slot of seven symbols and a second slot of seven symbols and symbols one, two, six and seven of the first and second slots are allocated for UL data transmissions and symbols three, four and five of the first and second slots are allocated for reference symbol transmissions;
• and
• transmit one or both of downlink acknowledgements (ACKs) and downlink non-acknowledgements (NAKs) in one or more of symbols one, two, six or seven of at least one of the first slot or the second slot of the first portion.