In one exemplary embodiment, a method includes: transmitting a value from an access node towards an apparatus, where the value is indicative of a size of a first portion of an uplink resource block, where the uplink resource block is shared among a plurality of apparatus, where the first portion is specified for transmission of a first type of signaling to the access node, where a second portion of the uplink resource block is specified for transmission of a second type of signaling to the access node; and receiving at least one transmission using at least one of the first portion and the second portion.