Method for an electronic device (IT) that is controllable in at least one operating state (OP) and one standby state (SBY), with which a main processing unit (MPU) controls the operating state (OP) and a preprocessing unit (PPU) controls the standby state (SBY), such that, by means of the preprocessing unit (PPU), the main processing unit (MPU) and, to some extent, the functional units of the electronic device (IT) that are implemented by circuitry are switched by the control into at least one state having reduced energy consumption. An advantage can be seen in the fact that, by using a preprocessing unit (PPU), in the operating state of “standby” (SBY) the total energy consumption of the electronic device (IT) is reduced, both due to the significantly reduced energy consumption of a preprocessor (PPE) in the preprocessing unit (PPU) and to the units (MPU) that have been switched by the control into a state having reduced energy consumption, and the electronic device can therefore be operated more economically. An additional advantage is that the reduction of the energy consumption is achieved exclusively by circuitry measures and that no implementations must be included in the programs of the electronic device (IT).