@echo off
if NOT "%1"=="" goto start
cls
TEXT

       This batch file will start a specified command if not previously
       called within the specified number of minutes. The first parameter 
       specifies the instance of invocation of this batch file, so that 
       multiple independent commands can use this function (useful if 
       re-booting frequently). The second parameter is the number of 
       minutes to wait. The third parameter is the command, with arguments.
       Examples:
               ONCE 1 60 IMAGE C:
               ONCE 2 60 CHKDSK C:

       0-byte files are created to store info about the prior execution
       of the command. You can specify the drive and/or directory to store
       these filenames by using SET={drive:} or SET={drive:\directory}
       (note: no trailing backslash).
ENDTEXT
QUIT

:start
setlocal
set lastdate=0
set lasttime=0

if "%savedir"=="" set savedir=c:
: check if input is correct
if %@numeric[%1]=0 goto error1
if %@numeric[%2]=0 goto error1

: Normalize instance to 2 digits
set instance=%1
if %@len[%1]=1 set instance=0%1

: Is there a 0-byte file once.!%instance in the SAVEDIR dir.?
: If so, set LASTDATE to the file date in days and LASTTIME to the 
: file time in seconds
iff exist %savedir\once.!%instance then
  set lastdate=%@date[%@filedate[%savedir\once.!%instance]]
  set lasttime=%@time[%@filetime[%savedir\once.!%instance]]
endiff

: Is the date-time of the file more than %2 minutes old (in seconds)?
: If so, do the 3rd parameter as a command 
: After execution, make once.!%instance with today's date-time
iff %@date[%_date] gt %lastdate goto WORK
iff %@date[%_date] eq %lastdate .AND. %@eval[%@time[%_time]-(60*%2)] ge %lasttime goto WORK

:NOWORK  
  echo Skipping execution of %3
  Delay 1
QUIT

:WORK
  call %3&
  > %savedir\once.!%instance
QUIT

:error1
  beep
  echo First and second parameters must be numeric.
  echo.
QUIT