Upper bounds on geometric permutations for convex sets

LetA be a family ofn pairwise disjoint compact convex sets inR ^d. Let . We show that the directed lines inR ^d, d 3, can be partitioned into sets such that any two directed lines in the same set which intersect anyAA generate the same ordering onA. The directed lines inR ² can be partitioned into 12n such sets. This bounds the number of geometric permutations onA by 1/2 _d ford3 and by 6n ford=2.