Uplink grants for narrowband internet-of-things

1. A method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE), comprising:

receiving an uplink grant indicating, via a set of bits, one or more tones within a resource block (RB) allocated to the UE for narrowband communication using a scheduling unit size of at least one of: a single tone, three tones, six tones, or twelve tones, wherein:

different values of the set of bits indicate different combinations of one or more contiguous tones within the RB;

the different combinations are based on the scheduling unit size; and

starting tone positions for the different combinations of one or more contiguous tones are restricted such that there is one combination for a scheduling unit size of twelve tones, two combinations for a scheduling unit size of six tones, four combinations for a scheduling unit size of three tones, and twelve combinations for a scheduling unit size of a single tone; and

transmitting using the one or more tones indicated in the uplink grant.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more tones comprise 15 kHz tones or 3.75 kHz tones.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of bits comprises a first number of bits if the one or more tones comprise 3.75 kHz tones or a second number of bits that is fewer than the first number of bits if the one or more tones comprise 15 kHz tones.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein:

the first number of bits comprises 6 bits; and

the second number of bits comprises 5 bits.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of bits comprises 5 bits.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

a first set of the different values indicate different combinations of one or more contiguous tones; and

a second set of the different values indicate a single tone allocation.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein a third set of the different values indicates non-contiguous tone allocation.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving signaling indicating a modulation scheme for use when transmitting using the one or more tones indicated in the uplink grant.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the signaling indicating the modulation scheme is provided via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the modulation scheme comprises single carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM), 8-binary phase shift keying (BPSK), or tone position shift keying (TPSK).

11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the signaling indicating the modulation scheme is also provided via the different values of the set of bits.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing an indication of UE capability, wherein the uplink grant is based on the indicated UE capability.

13. The method of claim 7 , wherein the non-contiguous tone allocation comprises tones evenly spaced.

14. The method of claim 2 , wherein:

the one or more tones comprise 3.75 kHz tones; and

the one or more tones are restricted to fewer tones than all of available tones in the RB.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the restriction is based on an identifier of the UE or based on signaling from a base station (BS) indicating the restricted tones.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving signaling indicating a frequency hopping pattern.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the indication of the frequency hopping pattern indicates frequency hopping with a narrowband or a wideband and a number of tones to be frequency hopped.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the indication of a number of tones to be frequency hopped is implicitly signaled based on a maximum bandwidth for which frequency hopping is allowed.

19. The method of claim 17 , wherein the indication of the frequency hopping is broadcast by a base station.

20. The method of claim 17 , wherein the number of tones to be frequency hopped are contiguous.

21. The method of claim 17 , wherein the frequency hopping pattern is calculated recursively for different bandwidth sizes.

22. A method for wireless communications by a base station (BS), comprising:

sending an uplink grant to a user equipment (UE) indicating, via a set of bits, one or more tones within a resource block (RB) allocated to the UE for narrowband communication using a scheduling unit size of at least one of: a single tone, three tones, six tones, or twelve tones, wherein:

different values of the set of bits indicate different combinations of one or more contiguous tones within the RB;

the different combinations are based on the scheduling unit size; and

starting tone positions for the different combinations of one or more contiguous tones are restricted such that there is one combination for a scheduling unit size of twelve tones, two combinations for a scheduling unit size of six tones, four combinations for a scheduling unit size of three tones, and twelve combinations for a scheduling unit size of a single tone; and

receiving transmissions from the UE on the one or more tones indicated in the uplink grant.

23. The method of claim 22 , wherein the one or more tones comprise 15 kHz tones or 3.75 kHz tones.

24. The method of claim 22 , wherein the set of bits comprises a first number of bits if the one or more tones comprise 3.75 kHz tones or a second number of bits that is fewer than the first number of bits if the one or more tones comprise 15 kHz tones.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein:

the first number of bits comprises 6 bits; and

the second number of bits comprises 5 bits.

26. The method of claim 22 , wherein the set of bits comprises 5 bits.

27. The method of claim 22 , wherein:

a first set of the different values indicate different combinations of one or more contiguous tones; and

a second set of the different values indicate a single tone allocation.

28. The method of claim 27 , wherein a third set of the different values indicates non-contiguous tone allocation.

29. The method of claim 22 , further comprising:

signaling indicating a modulation scheme for the UE to use when transmitting on the one or more tones indicated in the uplink grant.

30. The method of claim 29 , wherein the signaling indicating the modulation scheme is provided via radio resource control (RRC) signaling.

31. The method of claim 29 , wherein the modulation scheme comprises single carrier frequency division multiplexing (SC-FDM), 8-binary phase shift keying (BPSK), or tone position shift keying (TPSK).

32. The method of claim 29 , wherein the signaling indicating the modulation scheme is also provided via the different values of the set of bits.

33. The method of claim 22 , further comprising:

receiving an indication of UE capability, wherein uplink grant is based on the indicated UE capability.

34. The method of claim 28 , wherein the non-contiguous tone allocation comprises tones evenly spaced.

35. The method of claim 23 , wherein:

the one or more tones comprise 3.75 kHz tones; and

the one or more tones are restricted to fewer tones than all of available tones in the RB.

36. The method of claim 35 , wherein the restriction is based on an identifier of the UE or based on signaling from a base station (BS) indicating the restricted tones.

37. The method of claim 22 , further comprising:

sending signaling indicating a frequency hopping pattern.

38. The method of claim 37 , wherein the indication of the frequency hopping pattern indicates frequency hopping with a narrowband or a wideband and a number of tones to be frequency hopped.

39. The method of claim 38 , wherein the indication of a number of tones to be frequency hopped is implicitly signaled based on a maximum bandwidth for which frequency hopping is allowed.

40. The method of claim 38 , wherein sending the indication of the frequency hopping comprises broadcasting the indication.

41. The method of claim 38 , wherein the number of tones to be frequency hopped are contiguous.

42. The method of claim 38 , further comprising:

calculating the frequency hopping pattern recursively for different bandwidth sizes.

43. An apparatus for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE), comprising:

means for receiving an uplink grant indicating, via a set of bits, one or more tones within a resource block (RB) allocated to the UE for narrowband communication using a scheduling unit size of at least one of: a single tone, three tones, six tones, or twelve tones, wherein:

different values of the set of bits indicate different combinations of one or more contiguous tones within the RB;

the different combinations are based on the scheduling unit size; and

starting tone positions for the different combinations of one or more contiguous tones are restricted such that there is one combination for a scheduling unit size of twelve tones, two combinations for a scheduling unit size of six tones, four combinations for a scheduling unit size of three tones, and twelve combinations for a scheduling unit size of a single tone; and

means for transmitting using the one or more tones indicated in the uplink grant.

44. An apparatus for wireless communications by a base station (BS), comprising:

means for sending an uplink grant to a user equipment (UE) indicating, via a set of bits, one or more tones within a resource block (RB) allocated to the UE for narrowband communication using a scheduling unit size of at least one of: a single tone, three tones, six tones, or twelve tones, wherein:

different values of the set of bits indicate different combinations of one or more contiguous tones within the RB;

the different combinations are based on the scheduling unit size; and

starting tone positions for the different combinations of one or more contiguous tones are restricted such that there is one combination for a scheduling unit size of twelve tones, two combinations for a scheduling unit size of six tones, four combinations for a scheduling unit size of three tones, and twelve combinations for a scheduling unit size of a single tone; and

means for receiving transmissions from the UE on the one or more tones indicated in the uplink grant.

45. An apparatus for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE), comprising:

a receiver configured to receive an uplink grant indicating, via a set of bits, one or more tones within a resource block (RB) allocated to the UE for narrowband communication using a scheduling unit size of at least one of: a single tone, three tones, six tones, or twelve tones, wherein:

different values of the set of bits indicate different combinations of one or more contiguous tones within the RB;

the different combinations are based on the scheduling unit size; and

starting tone positions for the different combinations of one or more contiguous tones are restricted such that there is one combination for a scheduling unit size of twelve tones, two combinations for a scheduling unit size of six tones, four combinations for a scheduling unit size of three tones, and twelve combinations for a scheduling unit size of a single tone; and

a transmitter configured to transmit using the one or more tones indicated in the uplink grant.

46. An apparatus for wireless communications by a base station (BS), comprising:

a transmitter configured to send an uplink grant to a user equipment (UE) indicating, via a set of bits, one or more tones within a resource block (RB) allocated to the UE for narrowband communication using a scheduling unit size of at least one of: a single tone, three tones, six tones, or twelve tones, wherein:

different values of the set of bits indicate different combinations of one or more contiguous tones within the RB;

the different combinations are based on the scheduling unit size; and

starting tone positions for the different combinations of one or more contiguous tones are restricted such that there is one combination for a scheduling unit size of twelve tones, two combinations for a scheduling unit size of six tones, four combinations for a scheduling unit size of three tones, and twelve combinations for a scheduling unit size of a single tone; and

a receiver configured to receive transmissions from the UE on the one or more tones indicated in the uplink grant.

47. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable code stored thereon, comprising:

code for receiving an uplink grant indicating, via a set of bits, one or more tones within a resource block (RB) allocated to the UE for narrowband communication using a scheduling unit size of at least one of: a single tone, three tones, six tones, or twelve tones, wherein:

different values of the set of bits indicate different combinations of one or more contiguous tones within the RB;

the different combinations are based on the scheduling unit size; and

starting tone positions for the different combinations of one or more contiguous tones are restricted such that there is one combination for a scheduling unit size of twelve tones, two combinations for a scheduling unit size of six tones, four combinations for a scheduling unit size of three tones, and twelve combinations for a scheduling unit size of a single tone; and

code for transmitting using the one or more tones indicated in the uplink grant.

48. A non-transitory computer readable medium having computer executable code stored thereon, comprising:

code for sending an uplink grant to a user equipment (UE) indicating, via a set of bits, one or more tones within a resource block (RB) allocated to the UE for narrowband communication using a scheduling unit size of at least one of: a single tone, three tones, six tones, or twelve tones, wherein:

different values of the set of bits indicate different combinations of one or more contiguous tones within the RB;

the different combinations are based on the scheduling unit size; and

starting tone positions for the different combinations of one or more contiguous tones are restricted such that there is one combination for a scheduling unit size of twelve tones, two combinations for a scheduling unit size of six tones, four combinations for a scheduling unit size of three tones, and twelve combinations for a scheduling unit size of a single tone; and

code for receiving transmissions from the UE on the one or more tones indicated in the uplink grant.