invention
The term invention, as used in this part, means any art or process, machine, manufacture, design, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof, or any variety of plant, which is or may be patentable under the patent laws of the United States.
Source
37 CFR § 501.3
Scoping language
The term Secretary, as used in this part, means the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.